Red Wine
by Katrina Seeder
Summary: When Lily begins to piece together her Dad's an Aunts actions with secrets and twisted lies from the past, she calls in her siblings and cousins. Together, they put together the secret that took place, one quiet, drunken night. ON HIATUS. MAJORLY.
1. The next Generation

**PAIRINGS: HarryxHermione, slight RonxHermione, HarryxGinny. **

**SUMMARY: What are Aunt Hermione and Dad hiding, and more importantly, why does little Lily look more like her aunt then Mum?**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter and other characters invented by the incredible mind of JK Rowling. They are hers and always will be. **

**RED WINE**

Lily Potter was sitting in her room at Hogwarts attempting to get started on her homework but had only succeeded in day dreaming about the next day. This was the last day of term until Christmas holiday, and the professors, as always, had assigned last minute homework due the next day. The dormitory door swung open.

"Hey," said GeeGee Finnigan, appearing through it and throwing her book bag onto her four-poster.

"Hey Gee" Lily smiled, dipping her dried quill back into the ink well.

"Did Professor Trelawny give you that stupid monthly dream thingy to do over the break?" GeeGee made a face, and took out her own.

"No, I have Firenze, and he didn't give us any" replied Lily, making an attempt at one of the problems for arithimancy.

"Lucky,"

The room became silent aside from the scratching of the quills and the groans from the girls.

"Lily?"

"Yeah, GeeGee?"

"Shouldn't the other girls be back by now?"

It was true; they were missing Lindsay Thomas, Marianne Longbottom and Sami Woods.

"They're probably with the boys," said Lily in a melancholy voice, moving to the next subject, Potions.

"Oh, right," GeeGee was always rather sore about the subject of dating. With her large nose and terrible acne, everybody she had met and looked over her.

As for Lily, she had turned everyone down, not ready for a relationship.

"So, what did you think of the new teacher Oggert told us about?" GeeGee changed the subject.

"What do you mean?"

"Like, do you think he'll be cute, or ugly, stupid, smart, what?"

"How should I know? But, I don't think it'll be someone stupid, I mean, Professor Oggert can't hire someone stupid!"

"Well, Gilderoy Lockhart was hired, but by the old dead guy, Dumblebeee or something,"

"Dumbeldore," Lily corrected automatically. Her parents were always talking about him and how he was the greatest wizard alive.

"Whatever. The point being, a headmaster CAN hire someone incredibly stupid,"

"Yeah, my dad and uncle say he was the worst teacher ever!" agreed Lily, giving up on her homework. Slughorn could deal with the mess.

"What about your mum and aunt?" questioned GeeGee, also giving up on her homework.

"Well, almost every girl was in love with the jerk, he was incredibly handsome. My grandma has an old household guide book of his. He was cute,"

"Ew," said GeeGee.

"What?"

"Nothing," GeeGee smiled and took out her trunk and started packing.

Lily rolled her eyes. GeeGee, forever last minute.

The door swung open again and in walked Lindsay, Marianne and Sami.

"The boyfriends doing alright," smirked Lily, taking in the smudged lipstick.

"Lips still in shape?" GeeGee giggled, while the others blushed.

"I'll take that as a 'yes'" added GeeGee, shutting her suitcase.

The girls either ignored them or mumbled a "shut up." Lily glanced at her clock, which read 9:57pm. Was it really that late already?

"I don't know about you guys, but my first class is at eight, so, I'm going to bed."

"'Kay, we'll probably go soon," said GeeGee. Lily gathered her toiletries and made her way to the common room washroom.

"James!" she called to her eldest brother. She could see him start to turn red and his friends groan.

"What Lily?" he said quietly, when she was in ear shot.

"I just wanted to remind you that you have to take my trunk down to the train tomorrow night. Oh, and, we have to pick up Rosie on the way," she said.

"I know" he said through gritted teeth.

"And, were going home with Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron, and mom and dad are picking us up there "

"I know,"

"And, Albus has that condition on his face, and it's your turn to apply the cream,"

"I KNOW LILY!" James shouted, turning away from her and to his laughing friends. Lily laughed and continued on her way to the washroom. She loved bugging her brothers. After doing her business in the washroom she went back up to her dormitory where she found the other girls fast asleep. Lily crawled into her bed and fell asleep quickly.

HHRHHRHHRHHRHHRHHHRHHRHHRHHRHHHRHHRHHRHHR

"GeeGee, wake up, we're late!" Lily shook her friend's shoulders and muttered 'agumanti' at her face.

"Huh, wha? I'm up!" GeeGee sputtered, shaking the ice water from her face and jumping around the room, pulling her robes on.

Lily franticly grabbed her homework from around the place and shoved them into her bag.

"Ready Gee?" asked Lily, opening the door.

"Yeah, let's roll," GeeGee walked through the door Lily held open.

In the common room, they met Hugo.

"Hey guys," he greeted, raising a hand in a hello.

"Hey Hugo," Lily greeted her cousin.

"Are we meeting Rosie in the Great Hall?" asked GeeGee, as the trio walked in unison through the halls. Lily's other cousin Rosie, was in Ravenclaw.

"Dunno"

They arrived at the Gryffindor table and dug into toast and porridge.

"So, what do you think you'll be doing for Christmas GeeGee?" asked Hugo, his mouth full of marmalade.

"I dunno, we always do something different, so its a surprise" replied GeeGeealmost inhaling her food. "What about you guys?" this directed to the cousins.

"Probably do a round of the relatives, visit, but we'll most likely stay together," answered Lily.

"You forgot going skiing with Grandma and Grandpa Granger," reminded Hugo.

"Right,"

"What's skiing?" asked GeeGee curiously. Lily was about to answer when the bell rang for class.

HHRHHRHHRHHRHHRHHHRHHRHHRHHRHHHRHHRHHRHHR

"Okay class, seeing as it's the last day of term, all I want from you today is your homework, and for you to take any ingredients from the stock cupboard or your own stock and make your own potion!" said Professor Slughorn, clapping his hands, and having the homework float to his desk. Lily rolled her eyes. Slughorn was always getting them to do stuff non curriculum based. She was interested in the potions they were actually supposed to be learning.

"Is he ever going to get us to actually learn something?" whispered Lily, taking out her salamander spines and frog juice.

"Oh, Lily, you get high marks for everything, why do you care if there's one subject not making you work like a dog," said GeeGee exasperatedly, throwing random ingredients into her caldron.

"Yeah, Lils, cheer up, this is the one subject you can goof off to, so enjoy. Ol' Sluggie won't be around forever," added Hugo.

"Fine," said Lily curtly, shaking beetle eyes into her potion. She didn't even know why she said that. The last time they had talked about, it resulted in a three day fight. The classroom was filled with absent minded chatter about the holidays. Lily glanced at her watch. Only eight more hours to go.

**A/N: So, what did you think? Please review and let me know! Oh, and I know this chapter might have been a bit short and boring, but I had to introduce the characters. Next chappie I promise more action! Thanks for reading!**


	2. At Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron's House

**A/N: OK, here's chapter two! Thanks so much for the encouraging comments! Please R&R!**

"OI! You lot! Over here!" a male voice shouted.

Then a woman's voice chided him.

"Ron! 'You lot' could mean any group! Hugo! Mums here!"

Lily laughed as Hugo's face turned as red as his dad's (and his) hair.

"Shut up Lily," he grunted as he began walking speedily towards his parents, trailed by James, Albus and Rosie. Lily hung back to say goodbye to GeeGee.

"Have a good Christmas Lils," said GeeGee, giving her a hug.

"You too, Gee," said Lily, returning the hug.

"Oh! And here's your present…and could you give this to James?" GeeGee shoved two packages into her arms. One slightly bigger than the other. GeeGee blushed, as Lily smiled. She had always suspected that she had had a crush on James.

"Will do GeeGee," Lily gave her one final hug and ran to catch up with her family

She ran right up and gave her aunt a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"Hi Aunt Hermione!"

"H sweetie how was the term?" asked Aunt Hermione, pulling away from the hug.

"Pretty good, 'cept Slughorn..." she was cut off by her uncle.

"Oh, so no ones says hello to their uncle anymore?" he demanded, swooping her up in a hug. Lily laughed.

"Hi Uncle Ron," she said. "Can you please put me down?" her arms were pined t her side and he feet were dangling at least two feet of the ground.

"Yeah, sorry," he set her down.

"Did you bring your Mercedes Uncle Ron?" asked Albus. He always loved the charmed Mercedes Aunt and Uncle had. Ron smiled.

"Of course Al,"

"Yes! I call the shotgun!" shouted James, referring to the passenger seat.

"Actually, that would be my seat, Jamie" corrected Aunt Hermione, "You five will be in the back," she stated. Lily gulped.

"ALL of us?" she repeated.

"Yes."

They all groaned. It was a two hour car ride, even with the flying ability. Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron laughed and made their way to the car.

"Move over Hugo, your sitting on my lap!"

"If I could move over, I would, but I can't so shut up!"

"OW! James that was my foot!"

"Suck it up princess!"

"All of you! We're almost there! Can you PLEASE be quiet for five minutes?!" shouted Aunt Hermione, turning around and giving them all The Look, which was similar to the one Lily gave when she was pissed off at someone. They all glared at each other in w ay that Hermione had to laugh.

"Just please, be quiet, we're almost there," repeating what she had already said, Hermione turned around and closed her eyes. She heard some grumbling and a few quiet 'screw offs' but, other than that the kids were silent.

"Thanks," Ron whispered to her. She smiled and kissed his cheek.

"Of course" Suddenly, the car swerved sharply to the right, just before smacking right into a flight of geese. The passengers all slid to the right amidst the cries of 'oof,' and 'Albus, get your fat ass off me!' from James.

"There will be no language like that James Ronald Potter!" cried Hermione, fixing her hair from the turn. The others snickered at the use of James's full name. He sulked and ignored everyone until they reached Hermione and Ron's house. The landing was bumpy and Lily had to hold onto the seat in front of her so she wasn't bounced along like popcorn. Ron turned around at the kids and grinned.

"OK, probably not the best landing you've ever seen, everyone alright?" he asked. His nice and nephew were rubbing sore spots on their bodies, but his own children were laughing, used to their fathers reckless driving.

"Alright, who's hungry?" asked Hermione, climbing out of the car.

"ME!" all of the kids jumped out of the car and ran to the house. Hermione laughed as a huge crash sounded from the kitchen.

"Well, their enthusiastic," commented Hermione, as she and Ron walked up the cobblestone path.

"More like crazy" snorted Ron. Hermione gave him a playful shove.

"Don't you remember when you were young? _You_ always wanted food. They're growing kids, just like you used to say," said Hermione as Ron rolled his eyes.

"Alright, but what was the crash," the words had barley left his lips when they walked in the door, and saw the collection of pots and pans scattered across the floor. Hermione turned to the kids, a glare in her eye.

"Someone care to explain?" she asked, hands on hips. Rosie and Lily were about to open their mouths, fingers already pointing at James, Albus and Hugo before Ron cut in.

"What's the big deal? You said yourself Hermione; they're just kids who want food, just like we were!" Ron shot his wife a smirk of victory before muttering a quick clean-up spell. The pots and pans shot back into the cupboards, but not neatly. Hermione let out a half smile. Even after all this time, he still couldn't perform it properly. She added the second part of the spell and the cooking tools stacked themselves smartly.

"OK, what did you find to eat?" asked Hermione, changing the subject. Rosie pointed to a bag of cookies and a pitcher of milk. Hermione nodded in approval.

"Yes, that's fine. Come on Ron, lets let them goof around for a bit," Hermione went up stairs to their room and got out her book. Ron came and sat beside her on the bed. He rested his chin on her shoulder.

"Which photo album is that?" he asked.

"Fifth year," Hermione answered, turning to the next page. A smile spread across her face.

"Look there's you after you won the Quidditch Cup," her smile increased. "There's Harry and me, in the corner, coming out of the forest. See, were still covered in leaves and scratches,"

"What?" Ron leaned closer and he laughed. "Yup, you're right there," he sighed and kissed her cheek.

"God, that seems so long ago now," He leaned back and rested his head on the bed back board.

"That's because it was, genius" Hermione laughed. Ron rolled over and closed his eyes. He had question on his tongue, but he really didn't want to ask it…make that two actually. He took a deep breath.

"Hermione?"

"Hmm?"

"Can I ask you something?"

Hermione turned to look at her husband.

"Course you can," she took his hand.

"Well, there are two things actually," Ron rolled over again and faced her.

"Shoot,"

"Do you ever wish that you married Harry instead of me?"

Hermione face was a mixture of shock and hurt.

"Of course not! Why the hell would you think that was true?"

Ron shrugged, "I dunno, whenever you see him, or see a picture of him, you always go all dreamy when he's around, it just makes me wonder,"

Hermione sighed and squeezed his hand.

"Ron, I'll admit, I did have a crush on him through years 1-5, okay some of six too, but then I realized I loved you. See? Look where we are a home together with two wonderful children," she kissed him gently, "What was the second question?"

Ron began squirming. "Weellll,"

"Just spit it out Ron!"

"Doyoueverthinkabouthavinganotherkid?"

Hermione looked confused.

"Pardon?"

Ron took another deep breath.

"Do you ever think about having another kid?"

Hermione fell off the bed.

"Hermione?" Ron looked over the edge. Hermione was about to answer when they heard a car land in the driveway. Hermione got up.

"Ron, can we talk about this later? Harry and Ginny are here," And with that, she ran from the room.

**A/N: Alrightie, There's the second chapter, hope ya like it! Oh, and the other story I have…probably won't continue…hehe…. Chapter 3 will be up soon! R&R!!**

**MJ**


	3. Fight!

**A/N: I know, I know, you all hate me. I apologize hugely for the long update. I don't have any reasons, but here's chapter three. Thank you so much for the lovely reviews, so please, keep reviewing, Because if I don't get at least 10 reviews for this chapter, I might not finish it, due to lack of interest. OH and I got a review asking if it was an H/Hr fic. Yes it is. I just needed to introduce that the characters are married and have lives now. In the next few chapters, there will be more H/Hr!!**

Harry and Ginny landed smoothly and safely on the driveway of Ron and Hermione's house. Without waiting for his wife, Harry unbuckled his belt and darted to the door, bursting through, almost knocking Hermione flat.

"Oof!"

Harry caught Hermione before she fell over. Taking advantage of his arms being around her, he pulled her into a tight hug, whispering in her ear,

"Lily's looking a lot like you, isn't she?"

Hermione hugged him back, whispering

"Yes, she does. You've been taking good care of her I see,"

"Only the best," Harry pulled away from her and gave her a friendly peck on the cheek. Nothing more a relative would do to another relative, right? Just then, Ginny walked in, lugging a suitcase for Harry and her to stay the night. Hermione and Harry quickly stepped apart. Ginny had always been jealous of how close Harry and Hermione were. When Ginny saw Hermione her face tightened. She uttered out a quick hello, and then called for Ron, who bounded down the stairs to greet them.

"Hey, mate, doin' alright then?" said Ron clapping Harry on the back.

Harry grinned, and returned the gesture.

"Not bad, you?"

"Not to tough 'round here, but I suppose that'll change now the kids are home,"

"HEY!" Lily and Rosie cried out in indignation. They had just entered the room.

Harry walked up to his daughter and gave her a giant hug.

"Sorry, sweetheart," he kissed her head. "How was the term?" Lily shrugged her shoulders.

"Good, but I wish Slughorn would actually teach us something," she said, moving to hug her mother.

"Well, he should be teaching you something!" said Aunt Hermione in outrage.

"Well he's not, just getting us to throw ingredients into a caldron and calling it a potion," said Lil, pleased someone agreed with her.

"Well, once the ministry-" Hermione was cut off by Mum.

"Hermione! Just because one girl doesn't want something doesn't mean you need to ruin it for the other thousand going to the same lesson!" shouted Mum, taking a step forward.

"_Excuse_ me? This is m-_your daughter_ and you want her to have the shittiest potion teacher in the world? As a mother you should want what's best for your daughter!" screamed Aunt Hermione. Lily backed away, terrified. Never had she seen her mother and aunt go at each other like that. She had always known that they disliked each other, but never had their arguments been about her education. To tell the truth, she was a little miffed that her own _mother_ was against her learning something. But then she figured that her mother just wanted to argue a point with her aunt.

"I WILL NOT HAVE MY DAUGHTER DEPRIVED OF HER EDUCATION!" shrieked Aunt Hermione, but the second the words were off her lips she covered her mouth and gasped.

"_Your _daughter?" yelled Mum, glaring at her confusedly.

"I meant yours," said Aunt Hermione quietly. She turned and left the room. Lily was confused, but as she was about to question her aunts strange behavior, Dad cleared his throat.

"Ahem, well, Gin? You want me to take the luggage upstairs?" he asked reaching for the duffel bag.

"Fine, but don't expect me to sleep in the same house as _her_," said Mum coldly, abruptly turning on her heel and stomping off. Dad sighed trudged upstairs, lugging the bag over his shoulder. Lily swiped furiously at her tears, trying to make them disappear, but they kept falling. Why couldn't her mother and aunt just get along once? That's all she asked.

"Lily?"

She turned.

"What Albus?" she asked sharply, turning away again.

"Why are you crying?"

"I'm not,"

"Yes you are," Albus argued. Lily wiped away the traitor tears. "See," Albus said, pointing. Lily sighed. There was no lying to Albus.

"Don't you just wish that Mum and Aunt Hermione would get along, just once," she asked. Al shrugged.

"Yeah, it would be nice but, listen, I know why they are always having a go at each other," said Albus mysteriously. Lily raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Yeah,"

"Why then?" challenged Lily.

"Because," Albus looked her in the eye. "Aunt Hermione loved Dad,"

**A/N: Ooooooooo, cliffy! Again I apologize greatly for the length of time it took to update, and how short this chapter is. BUT a chapter never less. Let me know if I should continue and feel free to REVIEW and check out my other stories.**

**MJ**


	4. The Hunt

**A/N: Chapter four…**

_**Last Time:**_

"_Because," Albus looked her in the eye. "Aunt Hermione loved Dad,"_

Lily blinked,

"Excuse me?"

Albus nodded, "Yeah,"

"And how would you know?" Lily demanded, hands on hips. Albus sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Because, I've seen the photo albums and the letters," Albus stopped, but looked as though he wanted to say more.

"And?" Lily prodded.

"And… 'cause James told me,"

"And you believed him?" stated Lily in disbelief. James was hugely known in the family for the truth stretched WAY to far. She didn't believe that her aunt and dad would be in love. She thought they seemed too much like good friends for that type of relationship.

"You said that you saw photos and letters," she said suddenly.

"Yeah…so?"

She looked at him, "So, show me! Jeez"

Albus looked taken aback. "You want me to show you them?"

"Yes,"

"But I don't remember where they are! It was four years ago!" Al exclaimed.

"Do you remember if you saw it here or at home?" Lily questioned.

"Uh, here, I think Aunt Hermione kept them,"

"Okay, then we'll search her room," said Lily. Albus stared at her, mouth hanging open.

"What, you mean now?" he gasped.

"No, in five years, of course now!" Lily rolled her eyes and grabbed Albus's wrist.

"Come on, now is perfect! Mom, Dad, Hermione and Ron are outside and James, Rose and Hugo are playing Quidditch…it's just you and me," pleaded Lily. Al was quiet.

"Fine,"

Lily hugged him.

"You're the best,"

"Yeah, yeah, don't push it," he grumbled, following his sister up the stairs.

Two hours later saw the pair of them looking through boxes and boxes of crap that the Weasley's had kept. From Ron's baby booties to Rose's last term History of Magic class report. There were even a few of James's, Lily's and Albus's stuff.

"Wow, I don't think our mother even keeps this junk," said Albus, setting aside a stack of old school papers.

"Yeah," agreed Lily absent mindedly, quickly scanning a pile of well-thumbed envelopes. She opened one, and looked it over. She returned it to its envelope a moment later and tossed the rest of them back in the box that they came from. Just a bunch of Hermione's parents letters. Albus looked at her.

"Anything?" he asked hopefully, his hand was hovering over another box.

"Nope"

The work resumed. An hour had passed and Al had already taken all the boxes from the closet…except one. They both stared down at it.

"Think it's in there?" whispered Lily.

"Only one way to find out," Albus ripped the tape and opened the box. It was filled with ministry papers.

"Damn," Lily cursed, lifting them up, searching in vain for a clue or a sighting of the so called letters. Finding nothing, she put the documents back and sealed the box up again. She did the same for the other twelve, and Albus put the back in the closet in approximately the same places they were before. The pair crept quietly out of the room and went to the one Lily and Rosie shared. Lily flopped down on the camp bed she was sleeping on and let a wave of disappointment wash over her. She knew Albus wouldn't lie to her, so the letters and photos had to be somewhere! She stared at the ceiling, vaguely aware of Al sitting beside her, and hand on her shoulder.

"You know, we haven't checked every where," he said softly. Lily sat up right away.

"Where else?" she asked excitedly.

"The attic,"

"Where's the attic?"

"I don't know,"

"Well, we can screw that idea then," said Lily, lying back down. Hermione and Dad had done a pretty good job of hiding evidence of their relationship…if they even had one. But she was positive they had. It didn't take a genius to figure out they had chemistry. Just they way they looked at each other showed everyone in a ten mile radius. She was disgusted by it. If they friggin loved each other so much they should've just married each other instead of other people. Didn't they realize that they hurt themselves, their spouse and their kid because of a dumb choice? She was going to get to the bottom of this soap opera once and for all…they just needed a little inside help.

"Al, its time for pan B,"

"What's plan B?"

"B as in Backup,"

Dinner that night was quiet. There was the small talk between the adults, but Lily was waiting impatiently for it to be over so she could talk to James, Rosie and Hugo. If she was going to crack this mystery, then she needed help. At last, Hermione cleared away the dishes and the kids were allowed to leave. Lily tugged Hugo's shirt.

"Get the others and meet me in Rosie's room in five minutes she whispered,"

"What?"

"Just do it!" she let go and disappeared. Bewildered, Hugo went to find his siblings and cousins. Lily was sitting on her bed when the rest of the kids came in, led by Hugo. Once

all seated, Lily cleared her throat and began.

"Okay, your probably wondering why I've called you lot here, right?" they nodded, "Well, I don't know if I'm the only one that's noticed, but my dad and your mum seem to have an interesting past. Like, when they look at each other, you can tell that it's more than friendship. And when Aunt Hermione grabs dads arm when scared. Little things that led to a shady history,"

Rosie cut her off.

"She right, but I don't think they ever had a relationship, at least, according to any of the professors I've met,"

"Me and Al have seen pictures and letters," added James, leaning back. Lily nodded.

"Yeah, that's what me and Al did this afternoon, search for them," she told him.

"Where did you look?"

"Ron and Hermione's room," she replied.

James snorted. Lily was offended. She didn't see him hunting down the answer to the messed up situation.

"They're in the attic,"

Meanwhile, Ron and Hermione were back in there room. Hermione was dreading it. She knew Ron wouldn't drop the subject. She pretended she didn't know what he was going to say as she went into their bathroom to take a shower and get ready for bed. She heard her guests talking below her. She listened while Harry tried to get Ginny to go to bed.

"C'mon Gin," she strained to hear what was being said, before she realized nothing _was_ being said. Something was being _done_. She hurriedly turned on the hot water and soon all thoughts of Harry were gone.

Underneath in the spare room, Harry was thinking. Of a certain brunette witch. He knew he was being stupid. He was kissing his wife and he was thinking about his sister-in-law. _Damn you God_, the thought, _what they hell am I supposed to do with this_?

Ron sat nervously in his boxers and a t-shirt. He knew from the second Hermione fell off the bed that Hermione didn't want another kid. But he had to try. The bathroom door opened. This was it.

"So we're all agreed then?" said Lily, "Tomorrow we go to the attic?"

"Yeah, except, I think one of us should stay down here, you know, as a guard," suggested Hugo.

"Okay, you do that,"

"Wait! I wanna go!"

"Its okay, I'll stay," said Rose, "I don't think I want to know what those pictures will be of,"

"Okay, it's settled, Rose, you stay behind, the rest of us go," Lily said, looking around for anymore objections. Seeing none, she said, "Okay, after lunch, Operation Cheat is a go!"

**A/N: There is your chappie! OK I am VERY sorry I haven't updated in for ever, but I'm getting back into it now so expect the fifth one soon! I'm thinking of making it ten chapters, maybe more if I feel like it…LOL! Anywho, REVIEW!!**


	5. Discussion

**A/N: I love you guys! Here's the 5****th**** chappie! **

_**Last Time: **_

"_Okay, after lunch, Operation Cheat is a go!"_

Hermione stepped out of the bathroom, wrapped in a towel, humming. She stopped short at what she saw, the tune dying on her lips.

"Ron? Are you alright?"

"Yeah, perfectly fine, why?" Ron, in his boxers spread his legs apart and leaned forward in what he hoped was a casual way. Hermione stared at him.

"Well, alright…if you're sure," she moved to her dresser and took out her pajamas, "Because you know you can tell me anything, right?"

"Not everything," Ron mumbled, flopping back down on the bed.

"Pardon?"

"Nothing,"

It was silent as Hermione crawled into the bed next to her husband and took out her book. Ron went through sentences in his head but nothing seemed right to ask for what he wanted. Sure he had already told her, but she had been distracted and she HAD said they'd talk about later…

"Hermione?"

"Hm?"

"Do you remember the discussion we had…earlier?" he started. Hermione froze, and Ron noticed.

"Yes…what about it?" she said as nonchalantly as she could.

"Had you thought about it at all?" though he could tell the answer was no.

"Honestly Ron, no I hadn't. But if I may ask…what brought this all on? Why did you suddenly decide you wanted another?" asked Hermione curiously. He shrugged,

"I don't know, I just sorta felt that we were, I dunno, drifting apart, and I thought that another kid might…well, bring us together," Ron looked straight ahead at the large painting that hung on the wall opposite. Hermione was silent, praying he would understand her body language and drop it. He didn't.

"So, did you?" he asked, looking at her. Hermione squirmed uncomfortably.

"Ron, in a relationship, both persons need a say and I'm sorry but, I don't think I could handle another child at the moment, with my job being so demanding and your work sending you off every week and not coming home…" she trailed off. "It's not really the best environment to raise a child in right now," she finished, turning back to her book.

"Dammit Hermione! No I want another child! We always go with what you want but what about me? What about what I want?" Ron shouted, getting up. Hermione stared at him, shocked. She had not expected this reaction from him. But he had done it. She was angry.

"Ron! Unless you plan to rape me, you are not getting another child!" she screamed back.

"Well, excuse me if I thought it might be nice to have a bigger family! Ginny has had three kids and I heard they might go for four!"

"I've already had to shove three kids out of me_ I'm_ not going for four!" she immediately realized what she said. Why was she slipping up now? She had hid the secret well for 13 years why now?

"Three?"

"You know I meant two!"

"Hermione, please," Ron's voice quieted. Hermione looked at him. He was pouting, but she was _so_ over that.

"Ron, no," she barley got that out of her mouth before Ron threw himself at her, knocking her back.

"_Petrificus Totalus_!" she cried, pointing her wand at him. In mid-air he froze, clattering to the floor. Breathing heavily and loudly Hermione shakily got up and moved her husband to the bed. She went to the bathroom and got a drink of water. She really didn't want to have another kid. It was too much work. And she couldn't bear to bring another child into this type of life.

--

Harry squeezed his eyes shut and tried to ignore the shouting above the room. He rolled over and was face to face with Ginny, also awake. They stared at one another while the couple above them screamed bloody murder at each other. Ginny reached out with both of her hands and grasped Harry's right.

"How awful do you think it'd be not to be in love anymore?" Ginny wondered aloud. Harry looked at his wife.

"Gin, just because their fighting doesn't mean their not in love any longer," he pointed out, though his effort was half-hearted, because what Ginny had said, was exactly what he had been hoping. He didn't know why, but lately, he had been getting fed up with Ginny's 'love' talks. And just plain fed up with Ginny. And lately, he was beginning to think of a certain brunette witch…he forced the thought of her out of his head.

"But, Harry, listen to that!" she gestured to the ceiling where a shriek was heard and then the sounds of something falling, "That does not sound like two people who love each other!"

"Whatever Ginny, it's too late for this and it's none of our business," Harry rolled back over and closed his eyes, willing sleep to take him. He heard Ginny move, the bed covers rustling. She moved closer to him and flipped him onto his back. She proceeded to strip his shirt off and then climbed onto of him, working her way out of her nightgown.

"Gin-" Harry's protest was lost has Ginny pressed her eager, full, mouth against his, attempting to make Harry's plush lips move underneath hers. Failing, she came back up for air.

"What?" she has, gasping. Harry gently handed her her nightgown, while pushing her off him. He fumbled with his shirt for a minute and then turned over once more to sleep. But Ginny would not give up.

"What is the matter with you Harry?" she asked in wonder.

"Nothing, I'm just not in the mood,"

"That's what the kissing was for, duh," She propped herself up on her should and looked down at his beautiful face.

"Seriously babe, we haven't had sex for months! How're are we supposed to get the kid you wanted if you don't cooperate!"

Harry stared at her.

"The kid _I_ want? If I recall, you're the one that brought up the subject! Further more, I never agreed to even wanting another I'm quite happy with three!"

" But I need another! What am I supposed to do when your at work and, James, Albus and Lily are all at school and I'm don't the housework?"

"That's what you want another one for? For company? Those are wrong reasons for a baby! If its company you want, I'll get you a dog!"

"Harry-"

"I'm done with this conversation!" Harry started to get up. As he tugged one some jeans and a sweater, Ginny asked,

"Where are you going? It's midnight!"

"For a walk, I need some air!"

And he stormed from the room.

--

Hermione stared at Ron while she listened to Harry and Ginny argue. Tonight was a really bad night for romance. Of course, she knew the real reason she didn't want to get pregnant again. To her, she felt like she was cheating on a different person than the one she was married to. She knew it was ridiculous, she loved Ron….didn't she? But that was just it. She was having a hard time telling herself that without having some doubt. She sighed and out her head in her hands. She put on some slacks and a sweatshirt and went out side on the balcony. She needed air. The night was fairly warm and the garden looked inviting and comforting right now….

Quietly, she made her way downstairs and into the kitchen. She grabbed a leftover cookie and made her way outside, up the twisting path and onto the bench in the garden. She almost screamed when she realized someone was with her on the bench.

"Shhh, 'Mione, it's me," said a familiar male voice.

"Harry! You startled me!"

"Sorry," he grinned at her, "Why are you out here?"

"Ron was being a bastard… some nonsense about another baby, you?"

"Pretty much the same reason…and because I couldn't sleep, what with you and Ron bickering," he snorted, "Just like school, except this time it about babies,"

"I'm sorry we woke you up…but I must say, I could hear you and Ginny" she spat the name, "pretty clearly as well,"

Harry grinned sheepishly.

"Sorry,"

A warm breeze blew by. Hermione's eyes welled up with blurry liquid. Harry noticed and squeezed her shoulder.

"What's wrong?"

"Why is my marriage crumbling now? I mean, we used to be so happy, and now…" she trailed off, consumed by sobs.

"Hey, it's okay," Harry put his arm around her shoulders as she cried. He decided now wasn't the time to tell her how _his_ marriage was going. They sat like that for a long minute before Hermione controlled herself and got up. She leaned down and kissed Harry on the lips lightly.

"Thank you, Harry, for everything," she started to go back into her house when Harry's voice stopped her.

"Hermione!"

"Yes?"

"Try to make sure you don't slip up again…we've worked so hard,"

"I'll try, goodnight"

"G'night,"

--

Lily Potter woke up at the crack of dawn the next morning. The beautiful morning sunrise shone down on her as she bustled about, changing and waking everyone under the age of fifteen up.

"Agh, Lily, its 6 o clock! Too early!" moaned Rosie, rolling back over as Lily shook her shoulders.

"Yes, but we have to make a game plan," Lily replied, throwing Rosie her clothes, "Get dressed,"

"I thought we made the plan last night!" Lily's cousin (or half sister) complained half-heartedly. She knew that when Lily got an idea in her head, it was best to just go with it.

"Not really, we just outlined it," Lily left the room to wake the boys. She crept quietly, stepping lightly as she passed the door to her parent's room. She pushed the guy's door open and shut it. She snuck up behind James and pushed him off the bed, causing him to land on Hugo, who moaned and rolled over on Albus. Successfully waking them all up, she went back to her room and re-woke Rosie. Honestly, she didn't see what the big deal of getting up was.

"Rose! C'mon! Don't make me come in here again!" she threatened. She slid down the banister instead of walking down the stairs. In the kitchen, Uncle Ron was there, pouring himself a cup of coffee, still wearing his striped boxers and t-shirt. Lily giggled.

"Morning Lils, what's so funny?" He looked down and blushed.

"Ooops, sorry,"

"Morning, and its fine, but only if you get me a cup of that!" Lily teased, pointing to the coffee pot. He grinned lopsidedly at his niece and obliged.

"Cream and sugar?" Ron asked in a high, falsetto voice. Lily smirked and took the mug from his large hands and fixed it the way she liked it. Lily picked up the _Daily Prophet_, the big news today, theHarry Potter Parade, some stupid thing the wizarding world did every year on the day Dad defeated Voldemort. But this was the 25th anniversary of a Voldemort free world, so they had a huge article on his life. She was reading about his fourth year:

_In his fourth year at _Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry_, Mr. Potter was illegally entered in the _Triwizard Tournament _by deceased _Barty Crouch Jr_. He fought a vicious Hungarian Horntail Dragon, escaped attacking Grindylows after rescuing best friend Ronald Bilius Weasley and Gabrielle Delacour, and survived the deadly maze. All of this was captured in detailed reports by former _Daily Prophet_ reporter _Rita Skeeter_ who comments:_

"_Well, I was shocked to see that Miss Hermione Granger-I guess I should call her Mrs. Hermione Weasley now-proved me wrong. I assumed that Mrs. Weasley was dating Mr. Potter; they had always seemed like such a cute couple, still do. Never seen such chemistry as I had with those too. Thank goodness they're still friends."_

_Read tomorrows article for a full scoop on Grangers and Potters past relationship._

The paper fell from Lily's hands. Well. As sure has hell she was reading the paper tomorrow.

--

**A/N: Okay, pretty long, please review SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING EARLIER!! **

**You Rock**

**MJ**


	6. No Way

**A/N: Thank you so much for all of the people encouraging me to finish this story. :) Hope you like this one.**

_**Last Time: **__Well. Sure as hell she was reading the paper tomorrow. _

"There, read that!" Lily slapped the morning paper on Hugo's bed and threw herself on the floor, curling up in a cross-legged position. Hugo glanced at her, a bewildered and amused expression on his face, but he read it. His amused face quickly changed to confusion and shock. When he was done, he stared at the paper for a moment before speaking:

"I think we should get the others,"

"I agree, this only convinces me more that something is up," Lily nodded; "If other people saw their relationship…" she trailed off. Hugo wasn't listening. He had already left the room. Lily rolled her eyes and bounded out after him. He was in Rosie's and Lily's room, blabbering about the article.

"…and there's a little star, and the star says _'read tomorrow's paper for a full scoop on Granger's and Potter's past relationship,'_" Hugo finished breathlessly, turning to Lily. "Sorry, I should've waited," he glanced apologetically at his brunette cousin. She waved away the apology.

"It's fine. So, moving on," She tossed her hair over her shoulder and pulled out a bunch of papers. Her family groaned. Ignoring them, she continued, "OK, so we've outlined what we want to do, now we have to figure out how its gonna happen. I've assigned you all duties, trading will be allowed,"

"What if we don't want to do it?" countered James, crossing his arms.

Lily gave him her best death glare and spoke with ice dripping off each word.

"Everyone will help,"

James shrank back and no one else made any further objections. Lily sustained the plan.

"So, as I was saying, you're allowed to trade your jobs, but the ones I have assigned go as followed, Rosie: Guard, Albus: Distraction, James: Communication, Hugo: Search member, myself: Search member," she paused, "Questions?"

"Yeah, what the hell is a distraction?" blurted Albus, his black hair falling into his confused green eyes.

"Ah, I'm glad you asked. A distraction is a diversion you create to stall if Rosie see's the parents," Lily explained. "The diversion should take place in the kitchen or outside, so remain there,"

"How am I supposed to tell him if I saw a person, if he's in the kitchen?" asked Rose, her hand raised.

"That's what James is for," Lily answered, pointing.

"Huh?"

"James, you know how, when you were little, you liked to play 'spy'? Well, I know for a fact you still have those walkie-talkies and you can rig them so we are ALL connected,"

"Yeah, easy! Give me something challenging!" James drawled, sprawling out on the floor.

"Okay, I want you to bug each room, so we can hear the conversations, especially if Hermione and Dad go off,"

"Alright, I'll do it," James agreed, beginning to dig through his bag for the equipment. He never left home without it. As he was messing with wires, cables and other electronics, Lily went through the procedures and cautions.

"Remember Al, don't make the distraction to obvious, adults aren't idiots,"

"Hugo! Wake up!"

Finally, as lunch arrived, James set up the bugging device in the living room, kitchen and in the garden. While setting up in the kitchen, he heard voices. A male and female. James ducked down and flattened himself against the wall, tucking himself behind a cupboard. The voices came closer and the footsteps moved into the kitchen. James peeke out around the corner.

"Ron! For the last time! NO!" Aunt Hermione shouted, stomping to the pantry and taking out bread.

"You still haven't given me a good reason to not have another," Uncle Ron retorted, handing her the butter. Hermione sighed and wiped her curly hair out of her tired face.

"Ronald, lately our marriage has been lasting only because of the kids, and don't bother denying it," she added the last part as Ron contradicted. "You know the relationship is working. We fight every day, sometimes I go to my mums and you to yours. I'm never home; you're always at the pub. It's not a healthy environment to raise a child in. A baby can't fix things that are broken," she finished softly.

James couldn't believe what he was hearing. Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione? Broken.

"So what are you saying?" Ron's voice broke. Hermione wrung her hands, tear forming in her eyes.

"I think its best…that - that we split-up,"

James jaw dropped with a pop. Leaning a bit farther out, he caught the last of what Ron replied.

"Yeah, I'll call Gertrude," he mumbled, leaving the room. Hermione put her head down and cried. She sniffed and finished making sandwiches. James was frozen, only moving when Hermione left the room. Could this get any worse?

James bolted to Lily's room, where she was going through some papers. HE rolled his eyes and knocked on the open door. She looked up from an official looking document, annoyed.

"What? We have ten minutes and I still need to go through this!"

"It's important!" James insisted.

"Well, make it quick!"

James took a deep breath:

"Hermione and Ron are splitting up!"

The paper fluttered from Lily's hands. "W-What?" she said shakily. "No! Are you serious…wait how do you know?" she eyed him suspiciously.

"I was setting up the equipment in the kitchen and then Hermione came in with Ron following… they were arguing – something about Uncle Ron wanting another baby, I dunno," James shrugged. "And then Aunt Hermione's like, well, I think its best we split up!"

Lily stared, frozen. She couldn't believe it.

"Well, this changes things," she said briskly, shuffling the papers.

"Huh? Wait, if your going to make me undo all of that wiring you've gotta another think coming!" hissed James angrily, crossing his arms. Lily blinked, as though coming out of a daze.

"Hm? No, no. The wiring stays, but we're not just focusing on Dad and Hermione any more, we have to monitor Mum too, to see if anything changes between them," Lily explained.

"What?"

Lily sighed. "I'm calling another meeting," she ignored the groan from her brother and set off for the others.

HHRHHRHHRHHRHHRHHRHHRHHRHHRHHRHHRHHRHHRHHR

It wasn't that hard to find them, in the game room, playing the PlayStation. (It was Hermione's idea. Ron had no clue what it was. He hated it) Realizing time was short; Lily decided just to tell the new information here. She knew it was wrong to tell Ron and Hermione's kids before they told them, but to had to be done. Surprisingly they took it very well. Rosie shrugged saying that's he knew it was coming. Hugo stared and said, "Just now? I thought they had it filed ages ago, they just didn't tell us,"

Lily laughed a bit, but then got back on track.

"Okay, but now this all changes things,"

"How so?" asked Rosie, who was just as intelligent as her cousin.

Lily sighed exasperatedly, "Be_cause _now one couple is down, we have to monitor the other. So starting today, we will watch and listen in on Mum and Dads conversations," she rolled her eyes. She hated repeating things twice.

"Um, but doesn't that mean that we're spying?" Hugo queried, "I have a bad feeling about this, and we're messing with out parents love lives, well, your parents, but no. No, I don't like this," Hugo looked nervous.

Lily smiled. "Hugo, don't you want to know if we're half-siblings?"

"Yes but-"

"And you know that deep down; the lies have to stop, right?"

"Yes but-"

"And you know this is the only way to find out, right?"

"Yes but-"

Lily beamed. "Good, now we're on the same page,"

She looked at the others, "Any more questions?"

But before anyone could ask any, Ginny called down the stairs that lunch was ready.

Lily looked at her family, eyes sparkling.

"Its show time"

HHRHHRHHRHHRHHRHHRHHRHHRHHRHHRHHRHHRHHR

Lunch consisted of a platter of sandwiches, salads, hot-dogs and pumpkin juice. The table was buzzing with conversation as everyone helped themselves to the delicious meal. Lily smiled politely at her aunt who was discussing something; she wasn't paying attention, not with the Operation so soon. She reached across the table and grabbed a egg-salad sandwich. Soon, the table was filled with empty dishes, only to have them filled again, this time with cakes and cookies. Swiftly, something struck her on the leg, grasping her shin; she looked up and saw Albus looking meaningfully at the clock. It was nearly one thirty. The lunch should be over soon…it HAD to be over soon. Thankfully, Hermione, with a flick of her wrist, made all the dirty dishes disappear and they were dismissed. Nodding to the rest of the kids slightly, Lily got up and left the room, tossing a 'thanks' over her shoulder to her mum and aunt. Slowly, the others in the kitchen followed their brunette cousin up into Rosie's room. Once all were seated , or at least, in the room, Lily started the "pep-talk".

"Okay. This is it. To discover the truth," Lily looked at them, smiled slightly and continued, "Alright, you all know what you're doing? No one switched?"

"Actually, me and Albus switched. He's guarding and I'm distracting," Rosie put in.

Lily looked curiously at her brother, "Why Al? I thought you were good at distractions?"

Rosie answered for him with a roll if her eyes, "He is, he's just to scared to do it,"

James laughed and punched his little brother on the arm, "Wimp,"

Al looked at his sister with a mixture of apology and sheepishness. Lily smiled. Sometimes it felt as though he was the youngest, instead of her.

"So, with that minor change, are we ready?" Mumbles of yes's rang out through the room. "Let's go!"

HHRHHRHHHRHHRHHRHHRHHRHHRHHRHHRHHRHHRHHR

Lily and Hugo made their way quietly up the stairs.

"Watch the second top stair! It creaks!" Hugo warned softly. Lily nodded and jumped the last two steps.

"So, where's the attic entrance?" whispered Lily, moving into the shadows. She felt like she was in some old mystery movie.

"Right in front of the storage closet," Hugo answered.

"Where's that?"

"Oh, just follow me!"

Lily pursued her cousin and after silently laughing at him trying to reach the latch, she did it herself.

"Loser," she giggled, throwing the latch. Creakily, a wooden set of stairs fell from the ceiling. "I'll go first," she added. Slowly, watching every step she took, Lily walked up the steps and was soon in the musty, damp, dark attic. Waiting impatiently for Hugo, she flicked on the flashlight she brought. She shinned it in every corner. A vanity set. Old cupboards. A trunk. Bingo.

"Hugo!" she whispered, turning around, only to find him right behind her. "Bloody hell! You scared the daylights out of me!" she shoved him.

He laughed, "Sorry,"

"I'm going to let the others know we're in the attic," Lily told him, "You go look in that big old trunk, see if anything's in there,"

As Hugo ambled over to heave the antique open, Lily pushed the button James had told her to. "James? Connect me with Al," she told her eldest brother.

"One sec," there was a click and then Al's voice.

"Silver Otter? This is Black Cobra what's the 411?"

Lily glared at the walkie-talkie. "Al, what the heck?"

"Code names you're-"

Lily cut him off. "Never mind, juts wanted to let you know that we are in the attic. I repeat, in the attic,"

"Roger that,"

Lily smiled slightly, but soon she was all business. It was time to work.

"Hey, Lily?" Al called in a strangled voice. Suddenly on alert, Lily was by his side in an instant.

"What?" she whispered suddenly terrified.

"I found them and Albus opened the trunk once more. What Lily saw, was not what she had expected. She didn't think anyone would have had expected it. It made her full lips open in a 'O' shape and her jaw drop. Her eyes bug out. Her heart sink to her knees. Because, on top of the stacks and stacks of envelopes, papers and photos, was IT. The thing she had been looking for. The proof.

**A/N: AHA! A cliffy! Don't worry, I hope to update soon, but if not, I made this extra long…well, long for me. And thank you so very much Jaded Angel, for your lovely review. I hope this satisfies all. Thanks for sticking with me! Expect more to come! REVIEW!**

**IMPORTANT NOTE: This is two things…**

**I have a picture of how I picture Lily in MY head…to the best I could find. **

**From now on, I will post a quote from the next chapter, an idea I got from the story , 'My Miracle, My Angel' by ****l'heure bleue in the Twilight section. **

**NEXT CHAPTER QUOTE:**

"_Harry, you don't mean that!"_

"_Sure as hell I do Ginny"_

**One more thing… yes I know, very long Authors Note, but it's kinda important.**

**To Clear Things Up:**

**This is SIX years after the epilogue**

**James is in year 6**

**Al is in year 5**

**Lily and Hugo are in year 3**

**Rosie is in year 4**

**And Fred DIDN'T DIE! I know it happened in the books, but this is a fanfic. I can make it anything I want. Okay. That's all. **

**YOU ROCK MY SOCKS REVEIWERS!**

**MJ**


	7. Busted!

**A/N: Thank you for all my reviewers! Especially Jaded Angel and Fibinaci! You guys are amazing! I hope this satisfies you! If you haven't checked out Jaded Angel's: **_** A Life Worth Living**_**, GO NOW!! Also – I'm sorry for any confusion – I was getting ahead of my self last chapter. Right now they **_**are just looking for proof that Hermione and Harry had a relationship**_**. Thanks for pointing this out! **

**Without further ado, the seventh chapter!**

_**Last Time: **__Because, on top of the stacks and stacks of envelopes, papers and photos, was IT. The thing she had been looking for. The proof. _

Lily stared, to shocked to move. Shakily, she bent over and lifted the yellowing envelope. It was labeled _Harry's Letters. _She knew it wasn't between Harry and Ginny, because it was at Hermione's house and it was her aunts writing. She glanced at Hugo, who was standing there, frozen. Slowly, she slid off her backpack and unzipped it, stuffing the envelope inside. Keeping the bag open, she reached behind Hugo and picked up the walkie-talkie.

"James?"

"Yup,"

"Spread the word – we found them,"

"Holy shit, seriously?"

"Yeah, we'll be out in five, anything happened?"

"No,"

"Over,"

She shut it off and began digging through the trunk for anything more. Hugo got down on his knees and began helping. After a few silent moments Lily paused.

"Hugo?"

"Hm?"

"Do you feel bad?"

"About what?"

"You know – going through their stuff like this?"

Hugo looked up at her, exasperated. "Lils, this is your doing, you wanted this! Besides, this is our business too,"

"Okay…"

Once they had every bit of information they could find, Hugo slung the backpack over his shoulders and they began to make their way downstairs. As Lily shut the attic entrance, a though hit her. She gasped, causing Hugo to jump up, startled.

"What?"

"I just realized – that was… way to easy," Lily whispered, clutching her chest.

"What do you mean?" Hugo asked, looking at her.

"I think she means exactly what she means," a new voice said.

Slowly, the pair turned around to face Harry and Hermione, who were standing there, a golden old key, a key which looked as though it would've fit in the trunk, clasped in Hermione's hand. Hugo's and Lily's mouth dropped open as they stared at the adults. Harry sighed, stepping forward. Slowly he walked over to his daughter and gripped her shoulders. He let out another sigh.

"C'mon you two," he muttered, "We both have explaining to do,"

He didn't miss the look the two kids gave each other before he turned with Hermione and led them back up the stairs to the attic. Hermione hurried to catch up with him.

"Harry what are you doing? Are you crazy?" she hissed at him from between her teeth. Harry held back a smirk.

"You'll see," he mouthed back. He opened the door and conjured up four plush chairs.

Behind them, Hugo and Lily hesitated at the door – terrified. She couldn't believe that they had gotten caught. After all the planning, how could've it gone wrong? They hung in the door frame until Harry let out a small groan and sat down.

"C'mon, sit – we won't bite," he gestured to the seats. Slowly, they sat down, together, across for the adults. It was silent for a minute. Hermione spoke up.

"Before we go into details, I would just like to know, what in gods name were you doing?" she shook her head, staring at them expectantly. Lily shifted in her soft seat. She moved her slight shoulders up and down.

"We were ….." she trailed off and looked to Hugo, who stared right back. They gazed at each other until Hugo burst out angrily.

"Oh alright Lily!" he exhaled noisily. "Even though it was your idea, I'll say it!" Lily turned beet red at this and glared at him.

"Well?" Harry prodded gently.

"We were finding the proof of your relationship!"

Harry and Hermione looked at each other – and sighed.

"Alright," Hermione placed her hands in her lap and looked at Harry, raising her left eyebrow. Harry gave her a slight nod. Fortunately, Hugo and Lily missed it.

"Alright what?" queried Lily, squinting her eyes in disbelief.

"Alright we admit it,"

Lily gasped, Hugo stared stunned.

"Hermione! No!" Harry said, playing along. Hermione looked at him desperately, wringing her hands.

"Harry we have to tell them! They have a right to know!"

Lily looked from her dad to her aunt, brown eyes wide. She smiled with anticipation and horror. Finally they were getting somewhere, but did she really want to know?

"Go on!" Lily whisper-shouted.

"We admit it! Me and Harry are have … having…. A FRIENDSHIP!!" Hermione and Harry burst out laughing.

Lily and Hugo looked at each other, confused.

"What the hell?"

"What on earth are you talking about?"

Hermione wiped the tears of laughter from her eyes as Harry answered.

"Did you kids honestly think that we were in a relationship?" he asked them, wiping his glasses on his shirt. He blew a quick breath of relief as the two looked at the wooden floor, red faced.

"Well, its just they way you guys act around each other…it made us curious," Lily spoke up, looking at the adults earnestly.

"Yeah, and James said so," Hugo added.

Hermione's smile wavered for a faction of a second, but it could've been a trick of the light.

"And you listened to him? You should know better than that! That boy has some serious honesty issues!"

The two kids looked at their feet. Harry rolled his eyes at Hermione and spoke up.

"Its alright, plenty of kids at school asked the same thing…this'll be our little secret, 'Kay?"

"Fine,"

"Alright"

"You can leave now," Harry added, moving as though he would leave right after them, "We're just going to tidy up here,"

Slowly and untrustingly, the pair left, leaving Harry and Hermione alone. As soon as they heard the door close, and the footsteps fade, Hermione let out a heavy sigh and sat down on one of the armchairs. Harry sat down slowly beside her. Hermione looked at him. He smiled slightly and reached out with his strong hand to gently rub her delicate cheek.

"That was way to close," she whispered, covering his hand with her own.

"I know,"

"Do you think we fooled them?" the hope in her voice was pathetic.

"Absolutely not,"

Hermione groaned. "Didn't think so,"

"It'll be fine," Harry attempted to reassure her. He got up and pulled her to her feet and into his arms. She rested his head on her shoulder.

"We used to be so good at this – no one even guessed anymore," she murmured. Harry tilted her head up and pressed his lips to hers. After they broke away Hermione took a deep breath and relaxed.

"Okay, let's go,"

"That's my girl,"

--

They left the attic one after the other and quietly made their way to the patio, where the rest of the family was gathered. Hermione breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Hugo and Lily playing normally with the others. She moved over to Ron and planted a large kiss on his cheek. He looked round, surprised.

"What was that for?"

She smiled at him patiently, "Does a woman need an excuse to kiss her husband?"

"No, it's just that-"

Hermione silenced him with a grin. She ignored the way Harry tensed, just as Ginny did, when she was certain Harry had just broken her fingers.

"Um, Harry?" Ginny looked down at her fingers. He nodded an apology and let go. Ginny frowned. That wasn't like him at all. She tugged his arm.

"Babe, what's wrong?"

Harry turned to her. "Nothing, why?"

"You seem tense," she replied, rubbing his shoulders. He shrugged out of her grip.

"I'm not tense!" he spat through gritted teeth. Ginny took a step back. She knew that look well. Time for the puppy eyes. She quivered her lips slightly; keeping them parted and creased her brow.

"I'm sorry, Harry – I don't like seeing you like this," she pouted. Harry somehow refrained from rolling his eyes and said, "I'm not made Ginny, sometimes, I just wish you weren't so, so…"

"So what?" Ginny demanded, hands on her hips, all traces of putting gone. The couple was oblivious to the fact everyone had stopped and stared.

"So self-absorbed, clingy, whinny and skanky!"

The silence that had already hung in the air suddenly became deadly. Ginny stared at him, stunned.

"Harry, you – you don't mean that," her voice cracked.

"Sure as hell I do Ginny," he replied.

**A/N: Again, I am SOOOOOO SORRY on how long it took me to update. But I'm on holiday now, so I hope to update at least three more times these next two weeks! Thanks for reviewing and don't forget to check out my poll on my page. Thanks! **

**You Rock! **

**~MJ**


	8. Authors Note

**Brief Authors Note**

The past while for me has been extremely stressful. When I last posted on _Red Wine_, I had said that I hoped to post three more chapters for every story, as it was Christmas Break. I hadn't counted on having a perforated appendix. I was sick for a week until I went to the hospital. I was in the OR for a day and then spent the rest of the week in the Hospital. I was on bed rest for a month. Then, I was kicked off the computer I use for updating, seeing as I got a laptop… which doesn't have the Word program. Then to make matters even more stressed, my mother had a baby. This believe it or not, takes up a lot of time. I will try to update ASAP with out the Word program, but it might be difficult. It's a miracle I got on the computer for this long. Please don't give up on whatever story you're reading of mine – by April I should have the program. I just wanted to let you guys know what was going on. Hopefully you guys won't hate me!  Thanks you guys!

YOU ROCK MY SOCKS!

Katrina Seeder.


	9. Two Down

**A/N: See? Wasn't that quick? No, not really. I'm sorry about that, I really am. **

**I know the last chapter wasn't that great so here's to hoping this one is better! ******

_**Last Time**_**: **_"As sure as hell I do Ginny," He replied. _

The family stared at the two – Harry looking grim and annoyed and Ginny, mortified, hurt and ticked off. Hermione edged away from the two, taking Hugo and Rosie with her.

"Hm, well…er, why don't we go back inside and have a snack?" She motioned for the others to follow. Ginny and Harry remained quiet until everyone left the garden. The door shut and Ginny turned to her husband, running a hand through her fiery mane.

"What's this all about Harry? What's gotten into you? Can't you just act like you still love me?"

"Ginny, I'm an Auror, not an actor,"

"Multitasking is a great occupation!" Ginny retorted.

"Gin, why are you so stubborn? Why do you want to have to act? You're not happy and neither am I! Why can't you accept that?" Harry asked, sitting on a near by bench.

Ginny glared, but her eyes soon filled with tears.

"I'm actually thinking of the kids in this situation! How do you think they'd feel about this?"

"I think they'd take it pretty well. There used to things like this," Harry said firmly.

"Thing's like what Harry?"

"Tragedy, having your life ripped away from you, starting new, growing up, knowing something in your life is missing…"

Ginny cut him off.

"That's _you_! That's how _you_ lived your life! Not them! _YOU_!" her voice had risen to a screech, something that only happened when she was very, very, angry.

"If I hadn't grown up this way, I wouldn't be the Boy-Who-Lived! I wouldn't be famous and you wouldn't have given a damn about me Ginerva!"

Ginny looked as if she had been slapped.

"Are you saying that I only married, dated you, and _loved _you because you were famous?!" She had stood up now, her fists clenched to her sides, shaking.

"Oh, come _on _Ginny! You would've never been interested in me! If you hadn't pined over me as a child, you would've never had thought about dating me. Admit it Gin, you know I'm right,"

For a minute, Harry was sure that she was going to hex him, or at least hit him. But then she sighed, sitting back down. Her eyes were red and watery as she patted the seat next to her. Harry cautiously sat down. It was quiet, peaceful as they sat next to each other. He carefully put his arm around her, drawing Ginny close to him. She rested her head on his shoulder.

"Do you want to call our lawyer, or do you want me to?"

Ginny shrugged, "You, I guess,"

Harry removed his arm from her shoulders and got up.

"I'll call tomorrow," He pressed a gentle kiss to the top of her head. "I'm sorry things had to end like this,"

She looked up.

"Me too,"

--

James removed the omnocculars (A/N: Not sure of spelling – those things the trio used in the 4th book for the World Cup?) from his eyes, and shut the bedrooms curtain. He turned to the rest.

"And that makes two down," he spoke quite calmly, especially for one so devastated. Lily wiped her eyes and Albus stared at the ground.

"Well, now what do we do?" Rose asked quietly. Lily looked at her.

"What do you mean 'what do we do?!' We continue on obviously. Wait right there," with that, she got up and left the room in a run. The other four looked at each other in bewilderment.

"What is she doing?" asked Hugo, getting off the floor and beginning to pace. James shrugged. He was used to his sister's odd behavior. Lily returned to the room, the _Daily Prophet _clutched in her small hands.

"Remember the article I said was going to be in the paper today?" she slapped the offending paper on Rose's bed.

"Yeah! C'mon Lil, read it!" Rose pressed, picking up the newspaper and handing it to her cousin.

"Alright," Lily opened it up and flipped through it until she found the article, which was entitled _"A Family Affair: The So-Called Friendship between The Chosen One and his 'Best Friend'" _"Here we go," Lily cleared her throat and began to read:

_Though the Boy Who Lived may seem to have it all, the one thing he couldn't get is the only thing his best friend Mr. Ronald Weasley, 42, _could,_ Mrs. Hermione Weasley, 42. _

"The only thing my dad could get?!?" Hugo shouted angrily, starting to get up.

"Hush, Hugo… let me finish!" Lily said as James pulled him down.

_Mr. and Mrs. Weasley have been married 26 years, likewise for Mr. Potter and his wife, Ginerva Potter, 41. Despite the _very_ log term relationship both Mr. Potter and Mrs. Weasley are in, they seem to want more, and turn to each other to fill that need. _

_And why shouldn't they? After all they've been through together, why shouldn't they turn to each other?_

_In their first year at _Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry_, Potter saved Weasley, then Granger, from a terrifying mountain troll. _

"Hey! My dad did most of it!" this time it was Rose who interrupted in a burst of outrage.

"OK, do you want to read it yourselves?" asked Lily, hands on hips.

"Not really…"

"Then leave your comments until the end!"

_It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship, as well as the beginning of a reoccurring pattern. In year two at the school, Granger was petrified by the terrible Basilisk the school used to be terrorized by. Trust Potter, then 12, to rush in and learn the secret of the great serpent. After defeating the beast, the school was able to save the petrified muggleborns, including Granger. _

James looked as if he wanted to say something, but he caught Lily's eye and remained quiet.

_As the years went by, the pairs chemistry heated until at the end of the third year, Potter chose Granger to accompany him on the dangerous task of rescuing former serial killer, Sirius Black, from the school, where he was being held captive until the Dementor's Kiss was performed. The pair obviously made it out safely. _

"Okay, I'm sorry, but he _chose _Aunt Hermione? Umm, I'm pretty sure Uncle Ron had an injured leg, and couldn't go!" stated Albus.

"Yeah, further more, it was my mum that had the time turner thingy!" agreed Hugo, crossing his arm.

"One more interruption and you're reading this yourself!" Lily snapped.

She continued:

_A serious love triangle was formed in their fourth year, when international Quidditch star Viktor Krum was thrown into the mix. While it was reported that Potter and Granger were having a steady relationships, articles were also published stating that she was having a fling with the Bulgarian bonbon, Krum. The bond between Granger and Potter won out in the end, when the two worked hard together to help Potter through the tasks of the Triwizard Tournament, which was taking place at the school that year. _

James and Albus covered Hugo and Rose's mouths before they could even say anything.

_Year Five was still a strong year for the couple. They arranged a special group called _Dumbledore's Army (DA) _to learn Defense Against the Dark Arts properly. In the end, the group travelled to the Ministry of Magic where they took on a battle against Death Eaters. When Granger was struck down, Potter was filled with a burning hate, and the DA won. Potter visited Granger faithfully everyday while she was in the schools hospital wing. _

"That is complete bullshit!" shouted James. A chorus of agreement surrounded the statement.

Lily sighed and put down the paper.

"Aren't you going to keep reading? We promise we won't interrupt again," said Albus.

"I don't want to," Lily replied, "It's basically the same thing on every year. More lies and mutilated truths,"

The children sat in silence for a moment.

"So where does that put us?" asked Hugo, scratching his head.

"It doesn't put us anywhere. It just means that we aren't the only ones who have seen this… this _thing _between them," Lily said, tugging on her hair, a sign that meant she was seriously thinking. The group waited expectantly. They didn't offer any input. Lily would just veto it anyways. She paced back and forth for a while. Tugging her hair and tapping her chin, which meant she was in a deep thought, so far under, that she was barely conscious. James, Albus, Hugo and Rose started a card game, ignoring their relative's strange state. Any moment she would think of something, and then they would plan. Everyone felt much better when there was a plan on the table. Suddenly:

"OK, I think I've got something,"

The card game was immediately forgotten and all attention was now focused completely on Lily.

"This is the Christmas holidays, right?" Lily started, waiting for the group to nod their heads, "Yeah and tomorrow is Christmas, which means tomorrow morning everyone will be in the same room, giving gifts. Now, once we are all gathered into the living room, there are three things that I need the assigned person to look for. 1. If they sit near each other 2. Which only applies if number one happens: How are they sitting? Are they touching, what do they do when they aren't focusing on the current gift giver and opener? 3. What do they give each other? What does that mean?" Lily paused to breath. "Everyone with me so far?"

Albus raised his hand, "You lost me on number two," there was a murmur of mutual agreement. Lily took a deep breath and re-explained:

"Okay, for two: how are they touching? If there thighs are touching, that could mean one thing, but if they're leaning against each other, it could be something completely different. Do you get that?"

"Yes… but how do you we know when something is bad, or OK?" James queried.

"That's some ones job to research. Before you ask, assignments for this mission will be given at the end of the briefing,"

"Alright, but I still don't understand three, what does what they give each other have to do with anything?" Rose was very confused.

"Three is the same gist as two. Something one of them gives the other could mean something way different than if they gave them something else," Lily answered, "Any more questions before I continue?"

They all shook their heads.

"Excellent. OK, so once that person who was watching those three things gathers the information, they bring that information to Rose's room to be analyzed as much as possible. But there are other things to look out for. James, are the bugging systems still set up for Operation Cheat?" asked Lily.

"Yeah, are you crazy? There's no way I'm taking any of that stuff out until we get to the bottom of things," James replied vehemently.

"Awesome, so everyone will be required to wear a walkie talkie tomorrow and we will all take shifts listening at the receiver throughout the day and the night. Anything heard, seen or glimpsed at all will be immediately sent to the receiver and its person via the walkie talkies. Anyone wanting to take a certain shift will be able to put in a request at the _end of the briefing_," she stressed the last bit, as Hugo and Albus looked as if they were about to wrestle each other.

"On Boxing Day we will go over the information as a group, and if within all that stuff is what we need, our mission is complete. If not, we go through the holidays retaining any possible information, which will be looked over at the end of the week. If the mission is still not closed, and things are looking desperate, it will carry out into school."

A groan rose at this.

"I'm sorry, but we won't have a choice! But, to make sure that we get all of our homework done, I've devised a schedule so that we will only spend one day a week working on this project. We will use the library for books, and ask any of the teachers who used to be either of their friends -"

"Like Professor Longbottom?" offered Hugo.

"Exactly. If we can, we can also ask for addresses for friends of theirs not at the school. If we think so said person may be valuable, we might be able to arrange a meeting with them during one of our Hogsmeade visits," Lily stopped for breath again. She was getting very excited. She knew this was going to work. She just knew it.

"Wow Lil, you've really thought about this haven't you?" said James, who wouldn't admit it, but he was very impressed at how smart his little sister was. Lily beamed.

"Thank you James," she sat down and pulled out a blank piece of parchment and spare quill out of her sweater, "So, who wants to do what?"

"I want to figure out what different gifts could mean, I'm an expert on those types of things," Rose boasted. Lily laughed and wrote something down in her chicken scratch handwriting. "What else do you want to do people?"

"I will take first and last shift at the receiver, and I also want to do eavesdropping stuff" James claimed with a mischievous grin on his face.

_Scratch scratch scratch_, Lily wrote that down too. "OK, Hugo, what do you want to do?"

"Um, I was gonna do the three things analyzing one, but I don't want to do it on my own… I know I'll mess it up… I haven't messed anything up this entire vacation, and I know its coming soon!" Hugo exclaimed which earned a laugh from everyone.

"I'll do it with you Hugh!" Albus offered, "If we can't get anything, at least we can creep people out by staring at them!"

"I'll research where people touch, and what it means, then!" Lily finished writing with a big wave of her quill, which sent small droplets of ink flying. "This is going to be epic!"

--

"Harry!" Hermione whisper-shouted into the night. She had just entered the garden, where she was supposed to meet him. "Harry, are you out here?"

"I'm at the bench!" a voice called out. Hm. Harry's voice didn't sound right…

"Harry?" she moved to the bench…

… and almost screamed in surprised. It wasn't Harry, it was Ginny.

"Ginny! What the hell are you doing?!" Hermione cried, backing up a step. Ginny glared.

"I could ask you the same thing bitch!"

"I just came out here to talk to Harry, is that a problem?" Hermione asked coolly.

"Hell yeah it's a problem! It's because of you that we're getting a divorce! We could've made it work, but noooooo! You had to come in again!" Ginny, who was now right in Hermione's face, spat.

"Excuse me? It's my fault that you're an arrogant, slutty bitch, and Harry finally realized he can do better?"

"Ha! I hope you don't mean yourself, you home-wrecking know it all!"

Ginny didn't even see it coming. Her mouth dropped open as her hand flew to her stinging cheek. Her eyes filled up with boiling tears of anger. She gave Hermione one more icy glare, before turning on her heel and storming back into the house. Hermione, who cradled her hand in the other, sat down on the bench. She squeezed her eyes shut, forcing back tears of frustration. As if having the children on her tail wasn't bad enough, now she had a crazy ex-wife too? It was too much.

"Hermione?" a familiar voice called out. Hermione felt a smile break out on her face. _That _was Harry.

"Right here," her voice cracked. Harry was at the bench in a second, his arm around her shoulders.

"What's the matter? What happened? All I see is Ginny coming in with a huge red welt across her cheek! Was that from you?" he asked shrewdly. Hermione nodded sheepishly. Harry laughed a hard laugh. He dropped his arm and stood up.

"Is that seriously what you've become? You're just sinking down to her level! I'm divorcing her for exactly that reason! Because she's a catty, bitchy self absorbed person, and I can't stand her!" Harry vented. Hermione waited quietly until he was done. She reached out a hand and placed it on his. She was relieved when he didn't pull away.

"Harry? Harry I'm sorry. But she drives me insane too! And after the article that was printed today, I was just a little on edge-"

"Article?" Harry cut her off, "What article?"

Hermione handed him _The Daily Prophet_. His face changed very dramatically as he read. His fist shook as he ripped out the offending page and crumpled it up into a small little ball.

"I know," Hermione breathed.

"Well, we're going to have to be extremely careful now," Harry said in a tight voice. He sat down. Hermione scooted closer.

"No more midnight garden talks. No more secret meetings…" Hermione looked at him, a burning desire deep in her chest. She tilted her head up to his slightly.

He looked back at her with the same desire in his eyes, "No, we can't do that…." He leaned forward and closed the gap between their lips. The kiss was passionate, hot and heavy. It was pleasurable and angry at the same time. When they were finished they were both very out of breath. Hermione straightened her shirt and Harry stood.

"Well," he said, still trying to breathe properly.

"Yeah," she said wistfully, standing up close to him.

"We're not off to a very good start,"

Hermione laughed, hugging her lover. He hugged her tightly for a moment before pulling away.

"C'mon, its late,"

"Alright," Hermione moved towards the house, but Harry caught her arm and pulled her into a light and very sweet kiss. Hermione was still breathless.

"Goodnight."

**A/N: OK! I was just on a roll for this chapter! ******** I went from writers block and 600 words to ideas and ideas to 3000 words! I really hope I haven't lost you all, I will be updating more now because its summer vacation! And because I'm at my cottage so I can have complete concentration on my fics! Continue to be awesome, reviewers! Love you all! 3 **

**You rock my socks READERS AND REVIWERS!! **

**~MJ **


	10. Christmas Morning Part I

**A/N: Okay, it seems that I've lost most of you guys! :( Fibinaci, you are still amazing though! As are all my reviewers. :) OK, my new strategy is to update every two weeks so that the people can see I am serious about this! You can check out my profile to see my update schedule in case you also read some of my other stories. So, without further ado, Chapter NINE!!**

_**Last Time: **__"This is going to be epic!" (Lily). ; "Goodnight," _

Christmas morning was bright and cheery, as Christmases should be. The sun shone down on the deep, crisp snow, reflecting off it back into the air. Birds were chirping, squirrels were chattering as they scampered across the snow. And children screaming as they stomped down stairs, dragging their still sleepy parents behind them. For the Weasley/Potter clan it was just a bit different.

"LILY! JAMES! ALBUS! ROSE! HUGO!" Ginny shouted up the stairs. Nothing. She sighed and apparated into Lily and Rose's room and she shook them awake.

"Muuum! It's too early, go away!" Lily complained, rolling over. Ginny laughed and shook her again.

"Lil, wake up! It's Christmas!" and just like that, Lily and Rose were downstairs. Getting the boys up was an entirely different story. The guys were surprisingly heavy sleepers. A tornado could go through their room and they wouldn't wake up. Ginny shook them one by one, only to find that they hadn't even woken up. Ginny used every tactic she knew; water in the face, shouting in their ear, pinching them. Nothing worked. Eventually, she gave up.

"Fine!" she shouted, throwing her hands in the air. "Miss Christmas, see if I care!" and just like that, the boys were up and bolting down to the first floor.

--

The kids had a quick meeting before they all gathered into the living room. Huddled in a tight circle inside the bathroom, Lily quickly re-briefed the others.

"Alright, James, your bugging system is up and running, right?"

"Yes, I set the receiver to record, so no one has to sit up there listening."

"Perfect, Rose, you know what you're doing?"

"Uh-huh, I narrowed it down to five possible gifts they could each give each other."

"Great, Hugo and Albus, try not to mess it up?"

"Shut up!" Albus said sarcastically while Hugo laughed. "We'll try"

"Great," Lily said, pulling her curly brown hair into a ponytail. "Let's do this!"

--

The children weren't the only ones who had brief talk before the family celebration. Harry and Hermione huddled in hers and Ron's closet. Hermione sat on a box, knees drawn up to her chin where it rested comfortably. Harry had snuck into her room early this morning to talk to her privately. He now stood straight, arms crossed.

"So, we aren't going to sit next to each other, won't talk to each other unless necessary and our gifts will be exchanged in private if possible, correct?" Harry's voice was a soft whisper. Hermione nodded mutely.

"Yes, that was the plan… but now I'm not sure."

"Why? What's wrong with that?"

"Well, nothing wrong with it exactly, but I was just thinking. They're all on to us, and if they already think that we're in an affair with the minimal amount of contact etcetera we have, they might think something's up if we go from easy friendship/relationship to nothing." she explained, getting to her feet. She started rifling through her clothes absently.

Harry sighed, "What do you propose then?"

Hermione turned around to face him. "Well, I'm not quite sure… I was hoping you had some ideas."

"I don't know. We could just act like we usually do -"

"But that's just pointless, like I said before -"

"– if they're already suspicious then we'll just be helping them figure it out."

"Exactly."

The pair fell into a few minutes of quiet as they thought. The silence was broken when Hermione spoke.

"You know, considering they were smart enough to think that we're in a relationship, I'm surprised they haven't figured out the rest."

"Surprised, yes. But relieved that they haven't, definitely."

"Oh, of course, could you imagine what would happen if they did figure it out?"

"Yeah."

Harry moved to the closet door, placing a calloused hand on the knob. He stared at her awkwardly. "OK, so, er… I'm going to go, you know. So they don't get suspicious."

Hermione waved her hand, "Yes, of course. But wait. What did we decide we were doing?" Harry closed the door, and again they were set in darkness.

"Erm…personally, I think we should just continue on with how we were always acting. Maybe we're just being paranoid." Hermione laughed a little bitter laugh.

"Yeah, maybe."

"OK then." Harry opened the door for a second time. He had just put one foot outside the door when Hermione, acting on a sudden spur of adrenaline, grabbed his shoulders and pulled him inside again.

"What?"

"Happy Christmas, Harry." She smiled at him and kissed his cheek, like she did when they were little.

"Happy Christmas," he whispered. And then he was gone. She sighed and flicked the light in the closet on. She still needed to change, but her nerves were in frenzy. It was silly how the littlest things about him could make her so frazzled. His strong, musky scent lingered on her nightgown and she brought a fistful of the cloth to her nose to breathe it in. Bliss. After a moment, she let her grasp on it go and went through her clothes again, this time actually paying attention to what she was pulling out. She ended up settling on a green blouse and a pair of dark jeans. The green for Christmas of course, nothing to do with Harry's eyes at all. She added a red necklace and earrings, pulled her hair into a ponytail and decided that that was as good as she was going to get. She waved her wand and it retrieved all of the presents from their hidden locations. The whole family were snoops. She supposed she looked a bit odd; the only woman bothered enough to get dressed on Christmas morning with a stack of presents floating behind her. The sight that greeted her in the living room was one that filled her with great joy, but horrible guilt. The children, who were so happy and hyper. None of them were aware that one of them belonged to an entirely different family. One that didn't even exist. But still. She had been doing this charade for years, by now she was an expert. She forced a great smile on her face and entered the love filled room.

"Happy Christmas everyone!" she said in a bright and cheery voice. She was happy, she honestly was. It was just that one not so little secret that prevented her from being completely and truly joyful.

--

Upstairs, one Mr. Harry Potter was in a similar state. He sat on a chair in the office, which is where he had been kicked to after his and Ginny's messy separation. The chair had wheels and he swerved from side to side as he thought. He thought of a lot of things, but most of his thoughts were surrounding a certain brunette witch. He rubbed his tired eyes and sighed. Things had never been this complicated before. Before it was just a simple affair, it would've eventually ended…or else they would've ended their marriages before continuing their relationship. There wouldn't even be a relationship if it hadn't been for that one drunken night. Though Harry wouldn't take back anything that happened or came out of that night, he still wondered if they hadn't done it, would their proper marriages still be failing. Probably, he concluded. Constant bickering that lasted 24/7 was not sexual tension, not matter how much he had told himself when Ron and Hermione had started dating. And no matter how beautiful or how strong she was, Ginny was nothing more than that. She would always be Ron's little sister with the crazy crush on him. He would always love Hermione; he was just too stupid to realize it before it was too late. Now if they did go into a proper, steady relationship they would be hated by the children, their ex-spouses which in turn, would make them hated by the entire Weasley clan. He sighed once again. This was one bloody mess that he doubted would get cleaned up anytime soon. He groaned and stretched as he got to his feet. He took his time collecting the presents from their hiding spots. His family was one pack of snoops. He threw his soft but ratty bottle green robe over his pyjamas and headed down the many flights of stairs, the presents piled high in his arms. He smiled when he saw everyone in the living room, all happy and excited for the special day. But something was nagging at the back of his head. He knew what it was, but he pushed from his mind and walked into the room, a huge smile on his face.

"Good morning! Happy Christmas!"

--

Ginny Weasley was angry. No, furious. _That stupid slut_, she fumed to herself. She knew it. She knew Hermione was seeing her Harry. This morning had confirmed it! Ron and Hermione were spitting up, and so obviously they didn't stay in the same room. Neither did Ginny or Harry. Which is why she was slightly surprised to see him creep out of her room, in his pyjamas. So there for, they were having an affair! She took a deep breath and tried to calm herself. She was rambling again. She didn't know much about it, but what she did know made her certain that she was going to make the bitch pay. By any means necessary.

"Happy Christmas, everyone!"

--

Ron was confused. Harry was quiet, Hermione was jumpy and worried and Ginny was pissed off. He shook is head wondrously. He had no effing idea what was going on. All he knew was that he and Hermione were divorcing, and they were both rather relieved. Harry and Ginny were splitting up, but Ginny hated the fact and Harry seemed giddy about it and Hermione and Ginny hated each other. Oh, and today they were all supposed to be one happy family on Christmas. His family was messed up, that was for sure.

"HAPPY CHRISTMAS!"

--

Lily sat on the carpeted floor in the cozy living room, her back leaning against the arm of one of many chairs. She had a slight smile on her face as she took in the scene around her. Everyone was happy – or at least appeared to be. The kids were all in their stations, looking anxiously at one another. The parents all came in one by one, each exclaiming a holiday greeting as they came. Once all were settled in, the present giving began.

"Here Rose, this one's for you," Lily handed a flat, square box to her cousin. "From James, I think it says."

"Al, this is from Mum and Dad."

"Lily, this is from me, your favourite brother!" James teased, tossing her a parcel.

"Oi, mum! This ones yours!"

"Ginny, look alive!"

"Hugo! That's not yours!"

The room was alive and bright with the chatter of family as they handed parcels to one another from under the magnificent tree. Once they all had their own presents, the gift opening began.

_Operation Cheat is back on_ Lily thought calmly, _Let the mission begin. _

--

Rose was staring at her Mum and uncle very carefully. They were seated right next to each other, but that wasn't her job to observe. She had to wait until they opened one another's presents. She had narrowed the possible gifts down to five groups:

Jewellery, which was very romantic, but also could mean a deep friendship.

A Book, which was sweet, but probably, was just a friendship gift.

Chocolate, cute and romantic… but vague, as if they didn't want to show anyone a personal gift in case they were teased, found out etc.

Something Homemade, which was utterly adorable…but not exactly a lover's gift.

Or a useless appliance they already have. This proves something is up and they don't want to be caught.

Rose was very proud of herself, as she never did research, especially this thoroughly. Probably because she had never wanted to know something this badly before. But so far, her efforts were going to waste. They hadn't even touched the presents that were from each other. In fact, the presents were the last in each of their piles! Rose blew a strand of auburn hair out of her eyes and sighed. This was going to take a while.

--

Albus was looking intently at his Dad and aunt, studying their every move. They were sitting close to each other, their thighs were pressed together, and she was, at the moment, reaching over him. This caused her to be momentarily pressed against him. Albus whispered everything he saw to Hugo, who wrote it down furiously on the back of a piece of wrapping paper. They weren't sure what it all meant (as per usual, they had neglected to look into anything besides what they had too), but they both knew that Lily would have done her homework and would know.

--

James glanced around the room furtively before crawling unnoticed behind the tree, where he proceeded to dig through the remaining presents for the control bugging wire which had been pressed along the far wall, hidden from view. Once he found it, he traced it back to the wall where it was plugged in, (electricity was Hermione's idea). He found the volume knobs on the end of the wire and gave the first one a firm twist, cranking the volume that would pick up the conversations in the room. He spun the second one down to mute so feedback from other locations wouldn't burst through. He opened a few presents, all the while thinking of an excuse to the escape and adjust the other systems in the other rooms. He sighed. It wasn't going perfectly, but it was going all right.

--

Lily waited patiently. Throughout the morning the rest of the group had been giving her nods and looks to say that they had finished their job. Except Rose. When no one was looking, Lily motioned for her cousin to come over. Rose got up and wandered inconspicuously to her.

"What?" Rose whispered, taking a present in her slight hands and ripping the holiday paper off of a hard cover book.

"Everyone else has checked in with the information…except you! What's wrong?" Lily asked quietly, folding sheets of reusable tissue paper.

"I don't know!" Rose exclaimed softly, brushing her hair out of her sleepy eyes. She sighed heavily and fell back against the sofa. "They got each others presents... I saw them! But they just shoved it under their stack and they _still _haven't opened them!"

"Hm. Well, you've done your job great Rose…we'll all talk about everything tonight." Lily spoke to her, but her eyes were staring elsewhere, boring into the two people whose lies and hidden truths were coming back to haunt them and causing a catastrophic outcome for the whole family.

**A/N: OK! Christmas part one! Yay! Part Two, soon to come! **

**Review… pretty please? : ( I mean, how can you NOT with that big pretty review button staring at you?? :) You'll all get a cookie! **


	11. Christmas Morning Part II

**A/N: OK, time for an update. BE WARNED: This chapter is more graphic than I have ever written. It's now rated M. If you are uncomfortable with that, feel free to skip that part :) Just a heads up. **

**It's making me sad how I only get two reviews per chapter :( C'mon guys! Show some love! I'm not going to be the type of author who asks for a specific amount of reviews before the next update, but more reviews would be greatly appreciated. =D**

_**Last Time: **__Her eyes were staring elsewhere, boring into the two people whose lies and hidden truths were coming back to haunt them and causing a catastrophic outcome for the whole family. _

Hermione sat, fidgeting nervously with a loose string on the blanket that covered the couch. She had seen the kids looking at her, staring straight through her charade and right into the truth. Or, at least it seemed that way to the paranoid woman. She let out a breath shakily and focused her attention on James, who was opening a parcel containing a whole box full of prank equipment from Uncle George and Aunt Alicia. It wouldn't have been so bad, only that Uncle Fred and Aunt Angelina had also given him some joke objects. She shuddered to think of how much trouble was awaiting in those packages. And more specifically, how much was going to go down during the rest of the holiday. She was dropped out of her thoughts when someone cleared their throat, much too loudly to be a natural cough. She turned her head the slightest bit and glanced at Harry who met her eyes evenly. His eyes flickered downwards and Hermione followed his gaze. In his hands was a small present, wrapped tastefully in a deep green with a thin red ribbon criss-crossing around it. A red bow sat prettily in the middle. She scanned the room and saw, thankfully, that everyone was preoccupied. She grabbed it swiftly with a small smile that was bigger in her chocolate eyes. Hermione tucked the gift safely in the pocket of her jeans and pulled her shirt over the square shaped lump. Slowly, she reached behind her and extracted a long rectangle package. Harry's eyes widened slightly as he thought about the best way to hide that. He decided to cast a simple shrinking spell on it and he slid it into the pouch in his housecoat. He smirked at her and opened a present, breaking eye contact. Hermione breathing slowed, no longer worried. No one had seen them… except Rose. Rose was staring right at her, a slightly smug look splayed across her freckled face. _Shit_, Hermione thought, quickly looking away. She reached past Harry, pretending to grab a pillow to prop behind her, but she was really tapping him on his broad shoulder. He looked at her out of the corner of his eye. She jerked her head towards Rose and then nodded slightly. Harry let out a swear word quietly and scooted a foot away from Hermione. Hermione pushed herself to the end of the brown couch and sent another fleeting look towards her daughter. She eyes were still boring into hers boldly. Hermione sent a silent prayer, hoping that Rose would think nothing of it all, the secret present exchange, the sly glances and the sudden seating arrangement. But she knew her Rose was to smart to overlook it. She had raised her daughter well, and if Rosie had done her homework, she'd know what it meant. And she doubted it would be kept secret.

--

Rose kept her gaze on her mom a little longer before rising slowly and walking into the kitchen, throwing Lily a look before she left. She entered the kitchen and went to the refrigerator and took out the carton of orange juice. She grabbed a glass out of the cupboard. She drank a sip and shuddered. Ew, pulp. A moment later, Lily came in the room. She sat down on a bar stool and looked at her cousin expectantly.

"Lily, the presents that I saw and thought were theirs weren't. I just saw…" Rose quickly and quietly told Lily what she had seen. Lily remained still, processing this new information carefully. Leaning back against the chair, she spoke softly.

"This is… interesting. Very interesting." She said, crossing her arms. Rose nodded eagerly. She had done her job well, even if she didn't actually know what the presents were.

"Do you think there's any way to find out what's in them?"

"Nothing guaranteed. All we can do is hope James's bugging system will pick up the conversation."

They sat in a heavy silence before Rose finished her drink, put the carton away and walked to the doorway. She paused and looked back. "I don't know about you, but I still have a _lot _of presents so... I'll talk to you tonight?" Lily nodded in confirmation and Rose left. Lily allowed herself a pleased smirk before she went back into the living room. If everything else went according to plan, they'd have their answer by Boxing Day.

--

Ron was peaceful. He wasn't sure what was going on with his family, but he did know today was Christmas, and it was his favourite time of year. Nothing was going to spoil this day; he would make sure of that. He looked around at everyone. They were all smiling and laughing… except Ginny. Ginny had the look of someone who was about to commit murder. Ginny was also making her way over to him. He paled and tried to get up to run, but she beat him. She wrapped her shaking hands around his freckled wrist and tugged him painfully into the kitchen.

"Ow! Bloody hell, Ginny! What\s the matter with you?" Ron yelped, rubbing his wrist. Ginny had dropped it the second they entered the kitchen. Now she rounded on him, arms crossed and face twisted into a scowl.

"What's the matter?! The matter is that you are just going to sit there and not do anything about your wife's affair!" she snarled, stepping close so she could glare up to him.

Ron looked at her confusedly. "Hermione?"

"No, Ron. You're other wife, Cleopatra!"

"But, Hermione wasn't having an affair!" Ron scratched his head. "I would know if she was. I mean, she'd be leaving the house frequently, staying out late, lacking in…" he trailed off. "Bloody hell! She's having an affair!"

Ginny clapped her hands together sarcastically. "Lo and behold, Ronald's not as thick as he seems!" Ron swatted her on the arm.

"Shut up, Ginny!" he sat down slowly on the counter stool. "I just can't believe I didn't realize it sooner."

"De Nile isn't just a river in Egypt."

Ginny sat down next to her brother and patted him kindly on the shoulder. "You see? This is why she wanted the divorce. This is also why she didn't want to get pregnant."

Ron looked at her, amazed. "How did you - ? Never mind, but what I don't get is why you though it necessary to tell me this. We were getting divorced before I knew this, and we're still getting divorced, with partial custody -"

Ginny jumped up and pointed wildly. "There! Right there! That's what you fight with! You fight for sole custody! That's what I'm doing too."

"Why do _you _want sole custody?" Ron asked. Ginny sighed and sat back down.

"Harry was adulterous too. You can guess who with."

Ron's eyes widened, jumping up he stalked over to the doorway and glared at his wife and best friend. "How could they?" Ginny came up behind him and tugged him back into the kitchen.

"Ron, shush! To make the sole custody thing work, you need to not let on that you know! Trust me, it'll spoil everything." Ron looked at her from the corner of his eye. He let out a shaky breath but nodded. It would ruin everything. But he would ruin them.

--

At around noon, Molly and Arthur joined the celebration, bringing delicious baked goods courtesy of Mrs. Weasley. After they arrived, Christmas lunch began. It was a quieter event this year. The children still chatted loudly to their grandparents about the previous term, friends, scandals and anything they could think of. Mr and Mrs. Weasley listened, smiling and asking questions at appropriate intervals. Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny, however were silent, picking at their food and only speaking when spoken when spoken to. And even then their answers were short, inexpressive. Somewhere between this morning and the afternoon, the four had come upon a silent agreement to not speak, as it would wreck the day for everyone. Molly knew something was up, but didn't want to speak about it in front of her grandchildren. Of course, Rose and Lily noticed this and exchanged a knowing look. Once everyone was done, they all gathered in the living room where the grandparents gave them their gifts.

The rest of the day passed lazily. The adults spent the rest of the day in side, drinking coffee and talking quietly. Meanwhile, the kids all filed outside bundled up in their winter clothes. Lily stuffed the ends of her jeans in to bottom of her boots and pulled on her thick woollen mittens Grandma had knitted her. Rose was also in the mudroom, wrapping her scarf around her neck numerous times so it wouldn't dangle in the snow.

"Have you noticed the parent's behaviour lately?" Rose whispered, now tucking the scarf ends down her coat and zipping it up. Lily nodded grimly.

"Yeah, my guess is that Uncle Ron and my mom are starting to think something's up too."

"That was my hunch as well."

The front door opened a crack and Hugo's fiery mop stuck through, dripping water from the ends of his hair. "Are you girls coming or what? Chicken?" Lily stuck her tongue out childishly, but nodded.

"Chicken? Ha. You sissy's are going to have your asses handed to you!" Rose snapped teasingly. Once a competition was on, Rose was a fierce and unstoppable trash talker and teammate. Hugo laughed and closed the door, disappearing with a victorious yell. Lily tugged a hat on her head, her curls framing her face. She turned to her cousin.

"Ready to kick some butt?"

"Ready? I was born to embarrass them!" They linked arms and stormed outside into the snowy white afternoon.

--

"Alright, James! You're the last one! If I get you that means the girls win and you idiots have to admit it!" Rose shouted out from behind her and Lily's snow wall, their only means of protection from the hail of snowballs that had been hurled at them for the past hour. Lily was out, the first person in the game, but Rose was obviously still in… and kicking some major boy butt. She had gotten Albus out second, a mere minute after Lily but Hugo was harder to defeat. He was flexible, which helped with the agility needed to doge the snowballs Rose whipped at him ferociously. So

now it was down to the two of them. Rose and James, which was hilarious as they were both serious hotheads when it came to war. Lily was hurriedly making snowball after snowball, trying to keep up with Rose's fast arm. It was also a slightly unfair advantage as James had two helpers making the weapons. But James didn't have the greatest aim so it evened out in the end.

"I won't have to, 'cause we're gonna win!" James retorted, throwing a ball from behind his shelter. Rose grabbed an armful of the cold missiles and stood up bravely. Lily peeked around the walls edge and saw that James had also stood, his strong arms also carrying snowballs. Rose picked one up and threw it up and down in her left hand. She was ambidextrous. James twirled another around through his hands. Rose sighed, feigning surrender. Lily bit her lip. Would her brother take the bait? James grinned broadly and turned to his fellow teammates. Rose winked at Lily and she tried to keep from laughing.

"Ladies, I do believe that you owe us a lovely phrase or t -" the second he turned around to face his opponents, flanked by the other boys, Rose whipped a snowball directly in the centre of James's chest. He didn't even have a chance to breathe before another one smacked him in the head. And another and another until – "Alright! Alright! You win! Dirty rotten cheaters!" he scowled, clearly put out that he had fallen for the overused trick. Lily clambered over the crude snow fort and high-fived her teammate. They glanced over at their defeated opponents, a smug smirk playing on their lips.

"Now, _I _do believe its you losers who owe us a _lovely _phrase or two." Rose said, exaggerating her voice just so. The boys shifted angrily from foot to foot in the deep snow. They were soaked and dripping and miserable. Lily didn't sympathize. Rose and she were in the same boat, but they had won. Beside, they'd get over it… after they rubbed it in their faces just a little bit more. "C'mon, boys! Let's hear it, then!"

"Urgh, the male species are idiot monkeys and the girls present here are the most … er, beautiful women ever created. They are our superior models and we bow down to them and bask in their golden glory glow. They are smarter than we could ever hope to become and it is for this reason, and the reason of their peak physical shape, that we lost so horribly." They recited through gritted teeth, looking at the blinding ground.

Lily and Rose were doubled over, gasping with laughter by the time they had finished. The boys were spared reciting the second verse by Mrs. Weasley shouting out from the doorway.

"Alright, that's enough you five! You've been out there long enough! Come in and have a cup of hot chocolate before Grandpa and I go."

The boys were only too happy to get inside and away from the girls. They scurried away from the two without a backwards glance. Lily and Rose, as cold as they were, ambled towards the big house, taking their time. Victory was sweet.

Lily pushed the door open and was greeted by the pleasant sight of dripping snow clothes and the lovely scent of boy sweat. Trying not to breathe through her nose, she gingerly stepped around the soaked garments and wiggled out of her own. She walked into the kitchen where she found the rest of her family seated around the long oak table in the center of the room. They were all sipping steaming mugs of cocoa. Lily noticed how all of the men at the table were trying not to look and Rose and she, though the adult men looked grudgingly impressed.

"We heard that you beat the boys, that right?" Hermione asked, smilingly at the girls. Rose grinned smugly.

?Beat? We destroyed them! Ha, James fell for the fake surrender trick and then I whipped him! It was hilarious!"

James ducked his head further, blushing madly but Lily could see him trying not to laugh. She knew he wouldn't hold a grudge very long. Lily and Rose sat down next to each other and drank the warm liquid, heating their insides. Lily glanced out the window, but only saw blackness. The sun had fallen recently, leaving only a faint glow in the distance. Molly stood up and motioned for her husband to do the same.

"Well, we best be off. It's getting late and I dare say that these youngsters wouldn't mind turning in early, considering how early you lot were up!" she said, moving to the coat rack just outside the door. She and Arthur pulled on their coats and everyone stood up to give them a goodbye hug.

"Are your brothers coming tomorrow?" Molly asked as she hugged Ginny.

"Yeah, they should all be here round noon, and I think Fred, George, Alicia and Angelina are staying the night. Are you guys going to drop by to see everyone?" Ginny replied, pulling back.

"We might, depending if I have to go to work tomorrow." Arthur answered, taking his turn in hugging his daughter. Ginny frowned in confusion.

"But you're on holidays!"

Arthur sighed, "I know, but the Ministry's going through a bit of a rough patch and they need all hands on deck. I wouldn't be surprised if Ron, Harry and Hermione are called in too."

"Oh." Ginny tried not to linger on how she wasn't included in that list. Not that she worked for the Ministry, she was a stay at home mother, but it still made her feel a little bit left out when the Golden Trio started talking about work.

After making sure that the grandparents had hugged everyone, they gave a final wave and disappeared with a pop. Hermione then rounded on the kids.

"OK, you heard your Gramma, up to bed. Tomorrow will be even more hectic and even longer." Surprisingly, the kids didn't argue and said goodnight before running upstairs. They were at the last landing when Albus looked over the edge to make sure they were alone.

"OK, everyone get in their pyjamas; brush your teeth and whatever you do before you go to bed. Then grab any notes you took or anything you have from your assignment this morning and meet me and Rose in our room, got it?" Lily whispered quickly. They all nodded in understanding before breaking away in separate directions. Lily and Rose tiptoed to their room and quickly shimmied out of their damp clothes and into their snugly PJ'S. Hugo popped his head in, eyes shut.

"You guys decent?" he whispered.

"Yeah, it's safe." Lily answered, pulling the door open slowly so it wouldn't creak. Hugo came in, followed by James and Albus. Rose came out of the conjoined bathroom, still brushing her teeth. She waved with her free hand and went back in the bathroom. Once both girls were done in the bathroom, they settled down in the circle the boys had started.

"Alright, everyone toss in your assignment notes etcetera in the middle. We'll look over them together." Rose said, picking up each piece of paper that was tossed in and stacking it in a neat pile.

"Alright, lets see what we've got from… Albus and Hugo." Lily quickly read through their brief notes. "OK, so they said that Mum and Uncle Harry sat right next to each other, with their thighs pressing tightly together. At one point she was pressed right against him as she grabbed a pillow. Albus scribbled a note that said she was actually tapping his shoulder. That's all they have"

"I have something to add to that!" Rose interrupted.

"Go on."

"I saw that too, but before the tapping thing, did anyone else see them exchange a secret gift. Almost everyone saw them give each other a large gift, but my guess is that it doesn't have anything in it. I saw Uncle Harry give Mum a small square gift, and Uncle Harry got a long rectangular box, which he shrunk. They both hid the presents in their clothing. They never opened those presents, so I don't know what's inside them." Rose finished breathlessly. Everyone stared at her as Lily calmly picked up Rose's neat notes and placed them with Albus and Hugo's.

"OK. Great job you three. That's crucial information. Let's see if we can add to it, and possibly get our conclusion. Do you want to listen to James's bug recording or hear my analyzed informa -?"

"JAMES!"

Lily looked slightly taken aback, but reached into the middle and took out the recording tape from her brother. James silently handed her an old muggle cassette player. There was a little clock on the device, reading 10:45pm. She slid the tape and pressed play.

--

Hermione looked out her bedroom window at the perfect starry night. She pulled her housecoat around her, trying to stay a little warmer. Ron was in bed downstairs on the couch, where he had been for the past few nights. She sighed, resting her head against the cool window. It was awful that her marriage was ending, as she did love Ron… but as a brother. On the other had, though, she felt that this divorce was… releasing. She was now free to do what ever she wanted without Ron questioning her about everything. If Hermione played her cards right, this time next year it could be her and Harry, free to be together at last. A sudden movement in the frozen garden caught her attention, dragging her out of her thoughts. It was a tall, dark figure and he was about to send harmless green sparks at her window. She smiled, and threw open the window, letting in a gust of cold air. She shivered and motioned for Harry to come up. She saw his shadow nod and a moment and a pop later, he was behind her. She turned around and was in his arms. Her sigh, muffled by his shirt made Harry grin broadly. He loved just holding her, and he felt as though it had been years since he had done it, even though it had just been yesterday. Hermione turned her face up to his, and then glanced at the clock. It now read 2:36am. Surely everyone was asleep… Keeping her arms locked around her lovers waist, she pulled him to the four poster bed. Harry raised an eyebrow at her dubiously. Was it really wise? He could tell from the burning look in her eyes that she wasn't thinking at all about the consequences. Ginny and Ron were bother _very_ heavy sleepers, and both were downstairs, at the other end of the house…

"What the hell." He murmured in her ear. Brown clashed with green as their eyes met, each pair reflecting what they felt inside. One look into Hermione's chocolate pools and something sparked inside of Harry. A burning fiery need that coursed through every inch of him, every vein and every bone urged to be touched by her. He was alive with a passionate lust that he knew matched Hermione's craving. He couldn't take it anymore. He roughly grabbed her delicate face and pulled her up to kiss her fiercely. Hermione immediately responding, kissing him hungrily. Their mouths clashed heavily, each scrambling to feed their need. Hands flew over their bodies, reacquainting themselves with the familiar curves and dips of each other. He slid his hands up under her nightgown and gripped her thighs. She pressed herself closer to him, pushing herself to keep from whimpering. He brought her thing legs up and around his waist, and she locked her ankles so she wouldn't slip. As the kissing grew even more intense, they fell back against the bedclothes, a tangle of arms and legs. They broke a part, cheeks flushed, breathing heavily. Harry looked down at Hermione lovingly, hoisting himself above her on his arms. Hermione smiled softly. He leaned down and pressed the side of his face next to her cheek so his lips were at her ear.

"I've waited for this a long time." He sighed, his breath tickling Hermione's neck and sending glorious shivers down her spine, tingling her whole body. She struggled to compose her voice, trying to think of something sexy to say back. All she could think of was:

"I know." She reached up, tugging at his shirt, demanding it to be off. Harry chuckled softly and slipped it over his head. Hermione, pleased that things were finally heading this way, shrugged awkwardly out of her housecoat. Harry lifted up, giving her a little room to peel her clingy nightgown off her body. In the three times they had done it, they had never bothered with the whole undressing each other bit. Hermione was now completely naked, squirming expectantly under him. His eyes darkened, his pants becoming tighter. In fact, his pants were the only thing that was separating them. Using her feet, Hermione fiddled with the cotton pyjama pants and after a second, had them laying crumpled on the floor.

"Good thing we both decided to go commando." She whispered, tracing her fingers up and round his chest. Harry let out a soft growl, scooping his arms around her back and pulling her up into the center of the bed. Hermione guided his lips to hers and the lovemaking began, hot, heavy and entirely pleasurable. His mouth was everywhere, kissing her neck, her breasts, and at one point his head ducked below, pushing his moist tongue into her. Hermione whimpered, rocking in ecstasy. She pulled her hands through his hair, clamping his head in place with her thighs. She couldn't take it anymore, and she ripped his head up and grappled him, shoving his mouth onto hers, where she tasted herself on his lips. Harry looked her in the eye, asking her permission to enter. _Always the gentlemen_, Hermione thought. But tonight she knew he would be anything but gentle. This was just how she loved it. She nodded, kissing him again. He lowered himself onto her, pulled down and then rammed her. Hermione let out a muffled scream, her nails clawing his back as she tried in vain to pull him in closer, to have him filling her up completely. He kissed her hungrily again, forcing himself even deeper. Hermione bucked, raising her hips to help him get inside. She was on the brink of an orgasm; both she and he knew it. The feeling was insane, she lost all thought of anything, only thinking of how much she needed him. Harry pushed one more time and she lost was lost in the incredible, enjoyable feeling that was close to being painful. And then everything slowed down, slower and slower Harry withdrew himself until their breathing slowed. In a minute, he was just lying on her, kissing her slowly and sweetly. He rolled over, bringing her with him so she was on him. He grinned. Hermione laughed slightly, crossing her arms over his chest and resting her chin on them, taking pleasure in the up and down motion his breathing caused.

"Do you remember the first time we did this?" Hermione asked, smiling down at him. Harry placed his hands on her back, tracing light patterns with his fingers.

"Of course I do. It was the best night of my life." He answered simply, kissing her collarbone. Hermione sighed, happy. She closed her eyes.

"Tell it to me."

Thinking for a few minutes on how to start, Harry looked at her, and seeing her eyes closed, obliged.

"It was Christmas night, thirteen years ago. You had just put Rose to sleep and were still angry from a ferocious row with Ron. You called me right after, you were on the brink of tears. You told me to come over as soon as I could. I was really freaked out, you sounded so upset. I apparated into your bedroom, where you threw your arms around me and sobbed into my shoulder for a long time." He smiled suddenly. "You stained my shirt, and I remember you apologizing over and over again. I asked you to tell me what happened. You said that Ron was being an arse, and you told him to get out of the house. Apparently, he had gone out that night and drunk himself into a stupor. He came home wasted and decided to take advantage of you," Harry's hands clenched into fists. "Your screeching woke up baby Rosie. He swore and then stormed back out of the house. The next morning he sent an owl saying he was at him mums. You had stopped crying at that point, and you were telling me about what a great friend I was. And then you kissed me."

"I think it was a mutual happening." Hermione interrupted, opening her eyes and glaring teasingly at him. Harry chuckled and continued.

"Fine, we kissed. And then…we did what we just did now. Except I think it might have been a bit wilder then as it was the first time. We didn't speak of it until three weeks later when you called again. You sounded terrified so I was over in a second. You sat me down in the bathroom, Ron was downstairs feeding Rose. He didn't know I was here."

"And I told you I was pregnant." Hermione said softly. "Pregnant with Lily."

Harry nodded, smiling. "One of the best things that ever happened to us." Hermione sat up, straddling him waist.

"We've done a pretty good job keeping it secret, haven't we?" she said, a hint of pride in her voice.

"A very good job indeed." Harry agreed, his voice tinged with regret. "The only awful thing is that Lily can never know. It would destroy her, us and the whole family."

"I know. One day, maybe. Maybe." Hermione sighed, sliding off him. She went around the bed and grabbed her nightgown, tugging it over her head. He picked up Harry's pants and shirt and tossed it to them. They redressed in silence. Hermione finished first, and sat back down on the bed. Harry pulled the shirt over his head and then walked over to her. He smiled, and kissed her again. They looked at each other a moment, before Harry turned away, went to the window an apparated. Hermione smiled stupidly a moment before reality came crashing down. Reality said that she was still legally married and to bring this publicly would be considered adultery. She sighed. Things had gotten way too complicated. But there wasn't any more time left in the day to think about it. The only thing she could do now was sleep. And sleep she did.

--

A burst of static awoke Lily and Rose with a start.

"Argh, what the hell is that?!" Rose mumbled, sitting up. She glanced at the clock. "Ugh, its 3:00 in the freaking AM!" Lily groaned, and rolled over to turn off the bugged cassette player. As she was about to flip the switch, she heard voices. She paused, hand hovering over the power button.

"_Do you remember the first time we did this?" _it was Aunt Hermione's voice. Rose had frozen as well. This was the best clue they had gotten so far… and it was proof! Lily hit the record button and popped a blank tape in.

"_Of course I do. It was the best night of my life." _ It was dad's voice that answered. Lily turned down the volume.

"Wait here, I'm going to get the boys!" Rose nodded, suddenly very pale and looked back at the offended device. Lily stepped into her slippers and tiptoed out of the room, leaving the door open a crack. She silently crept down the hall, two doors down and pushed open Hugo's door. She held in a laugh. Hugo was flung across his bed horizontally while James was stretched out on the floor, his feet shoving Albus under the bed. All were sleeping peacefully. She kicked James in the back and he woke with a start. She pressed her finger to her lips to tell him to be quiet.

"Wake the other guys and then meet us in Rose's room. You have to hear this." Lily whispered before departing. She went back to her room and sat on the floor next to Rose. They both started at the cassette player, curiosity and horror burning in their eyes. A moment later the door creaked open loudly. Both girls spun round.

"Shhhh!"

All three boys made a quick gesture with his hands, flashing their palms upwards as they sat in the circle. Lily reached over and turned up the volume. It crackled with feedback for a second before it settled on the room the two were in.

"_It was Christmas night, thirteen years ago. You had just put Rose to sleep and were still angry from a ferocious row with Ron. You called me right after, you were on the brink of tears. You told me to come over as soon as I could. I was really freaked out, you sounded so upset. I apparated into your bedroom, where you threw your arms around me and sobbed into my shoulder for a long time. You stained my shirt, and I remember you apologizing over and over again. I asked you to tell me what happened. You said that Ron was being an arse, and you told him to get out of the house. Apparently, he had gone out that night and drunk himself into a stupor. He came home wasted and decided to take advantage of you; your screeching woke up baby Rosie. He swore and then stormed back out of the house. The next morning he sent an owl saying he was at him mums. You had stopped crying at that point, and you were telling me about what a great friend I was. And then you kissed me." _

"Oh my God. This has been going on for _thirteen years_?" James said, shocked. Rose and Lily smacked him from either sides.

"Shush!"

"…_might have been a bit wilder then as it was the first time. We didn't speak of it until three weeks later when you called again. You sounded terrified so I was over in a second. You sat me down in the bathroom, Ron was downstairs feeding Rose. He didn't know I was here." _

"_And I told you I was pregnant."_

Everyone turned to Hugo, dumbstruck. Hugo pointed at his hair. _It can't be me, _he mouthed. They all looked back at the cassette player eagrly. Was there a secret child somewhere? Did the baby die before its time? But the words that came out were nothing that any of them could be prepared for.

"_Pregnant with Lily." _

Lily was as white a sheet, she froze. Her mouth hung open, and she tried to close it but it just fell open again. Aunt Hermione… was her _mum_? It wasn't possible… Ginny was her mum. She tore her gaze away from the black machine. She saw that everyone was staring at her, eyes popping out of their heads. Lily felt dizzy. She tried to hang onto consciousness for a little longer.

"_The only awful thing is that Lily can never know. It would destroy her, us and the whole family."_

Lily lost the fight with her brain, and she slipped silently away from reality.

**A/N: BAM!**

**Ladies and Gentlemen, the word count is… ******** 5,825 words. Longest chapters I have ever written. I really hope you like this! This is one of my favourite chapters :) The only suckish thing is that because I was at my cottage, which has no internet, I was unable to update. :( Forgive me, and REVIEW! **


	12. Relapse

**A/N: Yay! Another 'quick' update ;) Sorry about that. Real life got in the way. Interests shifted. Trips. Boyfriends. Baby brothers ripping off your space bar. Real Life sucks. Forgive? OK, thanks for all the positive feedback! Broke forty reviews! :O THANK YOU! If you could leave another one at the end of this one, I'd love you forever!**

**Chapter Eleven: Relapse **

_**Last Time: **__Lily lost the fight with her brain, and she slipped silently away from reality._

When Lily awoke the next morning, she was in her bed. She knew that for a fact. She also knew that she had a splitting headache. Groaning, she sat up slowly, rubbing the back of her head gingerly. She glanced around the room through slightly squinted eyes. It was empty. Next, she looked at the clock which read 12:45pm. Wow, she actually slept in. A shocking new experience for her. Lily swung her bare legs out of the bed, her feet skimming the cold floor. She flinched, and delicately tiptoed to the mirror. She glimpsed at her reflection, noticing she was only in her colourful t-shirt she was wearing the day before. Whoever had moved her to her bed, and also taken the courtesy to remove her rough jeans. All she remembered from the night before was hearing something – something that terrified, yet intrigued her. She also remembered falling into a seemingly endless black pit. So she fainted. If her head was hurting then she obviously hit her head. She turned around, lifting up her somewhat greasy curls, to take a better look at the back for her head to check for and marks or bruises. She saw none, but could hear the low voices talking beneath her. Forcing her lips to turn upwards into what she thought was a convincing smile; she fumbled for her jeans and slipped them on. Her hair was a lost cause, but honestly. It was just her family. She shouldn't feel self-conscious. That was the thing that bothered her though. She did feel self-conscious. Perhaps the reason was because she was now a maturing woman. Or perhaps it was the fact that as of last night, she didn't know what family she belonged to anymore.

--

Rose sat uncomfortably in the living room, watching her brother beat James at wizard's chess. She heard someone move upstairs which meant Lily was up. Good. There was some serious discussing to do between the relatives. Rose heard the light steps patter down the many stairs and craned her neck around the wall to see her. She looked horrible, and Rose knew she felt dreadful inside, too. Her hair was all gross and tangled, outfit rumpled. All this could be passed off as a late night hangover, but what gave her inner pain away was her face. It was drawn into a slight grimace, pale and blotchy. Her eyes were unfocused and empty, dark purple circles smudged deeply under the withdrawn eyes. Rose looked at her sympathetically, motioning her over. Lily turned her head and made her way over, stumbling as if she were a sleepwalker. She gave Rose and the boys a forced smile before tucking her legs underneath her and hugging a pillow to her chest. Hugo met Rose's eyes, nodding towards Lily. Rose took a deep breath and mouthed 'I know'. She turned her knees towards her cousin, placing her hand on her shoulder tentatively.

"Lily?" she whispered comfortingly.

"I don't want to talk about it." Lily said in a hard voice, already guessing what they were going to ask. Rose patted her lightly.

"But Lily, it's not healthy to keep it inside like that! Just talk to us, we understand, we - !" Albus tried reasoning.

"No. You don't understand, at _all_. I don't want to talk about it." Trembling, Lily got to her feet and left the room. Rose, James, Albus and Hugo exchanged a look. James glared at Albus, shaking his head.

"Epic fail, dude. Epic fail."

--

Harry was sitting in the office, feet up on the desk. He had the morning paper propped in his lap and was making a twirling motion with his finger, stirring his afternoon tea with magic. Boxing day was never anything special with the family, so everyone took it as an excuse to laze around. This year would be a little different, with the Weasley Twins and their wives coming today instead of yesterday. This Christmas was the longest one yet. He scanned the paper quickly, searching for anything at all relating to the article from yesterday. Thankfully, there was nothing. Not that he had expected anything, but he couldn't take the risk that the kids would find something before he would. He rubbed his eyes, glancing at the clock which read 12:36pm. Fred, George, Angelina and Alicia would be here soon, bringing their twins. A sudden burst of flame in the fireplace made him jump, spinning around in the chair, wand out. Kingsley Shacklebolt's head floated in the emerald flames, his usual serious expression in place. Harry sent him a grim smile, sitting back down.

"Morning, Shacklebolt. Happy Christmas."

"Happy Christmas Potter, I trust it was well?"

"Very, thanks. Yourself?"

"Splendid."

There was a pause. Harry drained his cup and placed it on the desk. He leaned forward, arms crossed. "I'm guessing this isn't just a social call? Something I can do for you?"

"Once again, your defying logic is correct," Shacklebolt said sarcastically, smiling wryly. "I need to ask you a favor."

"That would be?"

"No doubt Arthur's already mentioned it, but the Ministry's having some issues with security… there have been numerous hackings throughout our departments. We're not sure who it is, but we need to double up." He answered.

"But, I'm an Auror… a field Auror at that. I don't do office work!" Harry protested, standing. He hated being contained in the office. Over the past many years working for the Ministry, Harry had spent a grand total of 56 ½ hours doing paperwork. He preferred to be out there, searching for the criminals rather than writing up the reports after someone had already caught them.

"Yes, I know that Potter. But it'll just be for a few hours... you and Weasley both. Then I have a new assignment, for you both." Harry sighed in reassignment.

"Alright, when do you want us in?"

"Three, that's when Mr. Thomas and Malfoy get off," Draco, after realizing that his family's inheritance was quickly draining thanks to his fathers unpaid debts, got his Ministry degree and now was a fully trained Auror.

"Fine. I'll just let the family know and I'll see you then. Bye, Kingsley." Harry smiled briefly.

"See you, Harry."

His head flickered a moment before it died back down to its original state. Harry fell back against the suddenly hard chair. Great. That's just what he felt like doing… going to work after a late night, one which ended with him sleeping on the basement floor. Needless to say, it was not the most comfortable night of sleep. He smirked. At least the last bit of it.

--

Hermione pulled her black robe over her head, smoothing the precise creases just so. She smiled at her reflection, and pinned her badge, which stated her name rank, just above her left breast. She scooped her hair into a quick twist, shoved some bobby pins to hold it and slicked on some gloss. Hermione giggled. She loved getting ready for work – even if it was during the holidays. But right now, that was just what she needed. She needed to get out of this hectic house and go and focus on something else. As Head of the Magical Law Enforcement council, there was always some sort of case or a stray bit of paperwork that needed to be covered. She needed to clear her head, lately it was to full. Full of her issues, her children, worries and concerns at the front of her mind while relaxation and peace were shoved to the very back. Hermione was sure she could find some quiet at the office; after all it was the holidays. And no one went to work on the holidays. _Yeah, _Hermione thought bitterly, grabbing her brief case, _no one except the batty old scrooges… and me. _With a pop, she left the house without a goodbye.

--

Ginny was sitting in the kitchen, checking the time on the clock. She waited anxiously for the Twins to arrive. She beamed. She hadn't seen them or her nieces for _ages_ and it would be nice to catch up. It wasn't as if she hadn't _seen _them seen them. She made frequent trips into Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade – where Weasley's Wizards Wheezes had locations in each village, so she would pop in to say hi. But all siblings were far too busy with their own lives, and too tired to do anything when they managed to find a free moment. She grimaced. That's what happens when you pop out three kids, become a stay at home mom and have a husband out every night of the week. A loud bang sounded from the front yard, and Ginny leaped to her feet, face bursting into a smile. She ducked her head out the door, glancing around to see if it was in fact Fred arriving in his charmed Mercedes. It was, and his family was all piling out, racing to the door, eager to get out of the cold.

"Auntie Ginny!" chorused the little twin girls, Johanna and Leah, age 8. Fred and Angelina had had troubles conceiving, and it took a while before they were able to produce a baby, which is why their girls were so much younger than their own nieces and nephews. Ginny grinned, spreading her arms wide and engulfing the girls in a big hug.

"Hello sweethearts!" she cooed, squatting down to their level. "Have you been good girls this year?"

Both nodded solemnly, raising their big brown eyes. Ginny's grin grew. "Then I think Father Christmas has some special surprises in the living room! Go say hi to everyone." Then she patted their bottoms and sent them racing into the room, loud giggles mingling with the quiet hum of the other family members. Ginny gripped the kitchen counter and pulled herself up. She wasn't as spry as she used to be.

"Careful, careful. Wouldn't want to throw out the old backbone, would we?" came the teasing voice of Fred Weasley. Ginny's head whipped up and she threw herself into her older brother's arms, needing to be held by someone… someone who would protect her. She choked, trying to keep her tears hidden. This was silly. She shook her head.

"Shut up, Fred," she said, her voice muffled against his shirt. He squeezed her gently, before letting go. He smiled at her, his faintly wrinkled skin creasing deeper through his laugh lines. Ginny glanced around him. "Where's Angelina?"

"Sleeping in the car. Leah's had the worst head cold, and it's kept Ang up all week."

Ginny glared at him. "Why aren't you helping out?"

Fred held his hands up, palms towards her. "Hey, calm down. I do help. I'm up with both of them – I just can take more caffine than her." He teased, elbowing past her and bouncing into the living room with a loud 'Happy Christmas!'

Ginny peeked out the window, just to double check. Angelina's sleeping figure was just visible in the car that was parked down the driveway. She smiled sadly, at this point wishing more than anything that she was still loved as much by her husband as she used to be.

--

Ron Weasley's eyes darted up as two redheaded girls burst through the door, giggling.

"Uncle Won-Won!" they shouted, heaving themselves onto either of his knees. He grimaced at the horrid nickname, cursing Fred for telling them that. But he put that thought away and focused his attention on his adorable nieces.

"Hey there, little girls! Merlin's Beard you've gotten big since the last time I saw you! How old are you now? 15?" he joked, hugging them each with one arm. They laughed loudly, as though this was the funniest thing they'd ever heard.

"Won-Won! Noooooooooooooo! We're eight!" Johanna exclaimed, poking his shoulder.

"Not _fifteen_!" Leah added, sliding down. She walked over to the group of her cousins sat, oblivious to the newcomers. "Hiiiii guys! Whatcha whispering about?"

Rose looked up first, grinning at the boldest twin. "Hello, Lee-Lee. How're you?"

Leah beamed toothily at her special nickname. "Gooood. How's ma Rosie?"

Rosie threw a venomous glare at her smirking cousins. "I'm good. Is Uncle George or Aunt Alicia here yet?"

"Nooope. Daddy says they'll be coming later. So I get to hang with you guys! And Jo-Jo too." She added, grabbing her sister's arm and pulling her over to the group. The four older cousins exchanged a look, but they all forced a smile on their faces. "Great!" in a twisted way, they envied Lily at the moment – who was hiding up in her room, claiming ill. Not that her situation was particularly admiring, and they did love their little cousins, but they need to work on their mission. The unexpected discovery had put them behind, and without Lily keeping them on track, they had slipped even farther. The door opening for a third time caused the group a moment to escape for a brief talk. Harry took his turn saying hello to the girls and to Fred. Ginny and a tired looking Angelina followed in moments later. If not all friendly towards everyone, at least the whole family was there. Except…

"Hey, where's Hermione? And Lils?" Angelina asked from her spot on the couch, stirring her tea with a circular motion of her finger. Harry frowned.

"Well, Lily's upstairs… not feeling the greatest. But I don't know where – Ron? Where's Hermione?" Harry asked, glancing at his best friend. Ron looked at him coolly.

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

An awkward hush fell over the room, which rang in information for the detective cousins. Rose and Al exchanged a look before silently, and unnoticed, slinking upstairs, signaling for the others to follow.

"Did she have to go to work?" Angelina asked hurriedly, fidgeting with a stray piece of yarn from the throw blanket.

"Yeah, I think she said something about not enough workers…" Ginny said in an innocent voice. She rose to her feet, magicking the fireplace to life. She grabbed her dark cloak from the coat rack, slipping it on. "Not to worry, though," she said faux brightly. "I'll go right out and get her."

Harry quickly jumped to his feet, an anxious expression in his green eyes. "Gin, are you sure? I don't really think -"

Ginny's fake grin grew wider. "Why not, Harry? We have company from very far away just to visit us. I for think it's rather rude for her to leave like that, especially without even saying hello. I'm sure the Ministry can manage for a couple hours – after all, isn't she head of the department? There must be a hundred others under her that she can send in." she stared at her soon to be ex-husband, challenging anyone in the room to contradict her. "Great, so I'll just Floo out and grab her? Excellent, won't be long." Ginny picked up a handful of Floo Powder whilst stepping into the dying fire.

"Ministry of Magic, Magical Law Enforcement Head Office."

With a green flash, she was gone.

--

Hermione fiddled with the pen in a vain attempt to make it work. Damn thing had frozen up in the middle of an important write up. After struggling for a few minutes, she irritably pulled out her wand and tapped the pen, perhaps a little harder than was necessary. She doodled a little squiggle on a Post – It note to insure that it was indeed working again. She pulled the form she had been working on back to her, and began filling it out. Her 'j' spread across the whole page when a roar of fire burst up in the cold fire place. An ash covered Ginny Weasley stepped out from it, a murderous expression on her face.

"Alright, bitch. Let's go." She spat, tossing her sister-in-law her coat, taking care to smear some gray powder into the fine black material. Hermione caught it easily, but placed it on her lap. She leaned forwards on the desk, head cocked and eyebrow raised.

"Excuse me? Where am I going?" she questioned, tone condescending. Ginny rolled her eyes, marching over to the front of the desk. She leaned down so she was eye level with her. She smiled cruelly, tilting her head slightly.

"You know, I really don't like you, Granger. But apparently, the people back home do, so they'd like it if you'd show up for the family get together. After all, we all are family, aren't we?" she whispered, letting out a breath of a laugh. "At least, that's what they think. Now get your ass over there so they don't think that you don't want to be there."

Hermione unblinkingly stood, tugging on her coat. "You could've just sent a patronus." She informed her coldly, putting away the pen and form, shutting the desk drawer with a snap. Ginny shook her head, unfriendly smile still spread across her face.

"I could've, true. But that wouldn't have allowed me to deliver my message."

Hermione raised her right eyebrow even higher. "And what would that be?"

Ginny walked up to Hermione, so close that she could smell her vanilla perfume. "That would be from me. I know what you're up to. Don't even bother denying it, you manipulative, lying slut." At this, Hermione's eyes widened, fear evident. How did she know…wait. Did she? Ginny smirked. "Yeah, I've got you now, Granger. But for amusements sake, I'm not going to tell anyone. From past experience, I've found that letting your enemies squirm with the weight of their guilt and their lies is the best way to make them pay. Oh, of course you'll crack under the pressure, so everyone will find out anyways. You just deserve to suffer first." Ginny's manicured nails gripped Hermione's chin, forcing it down to look at her. Hermione tried to flinch as the nails bit into her skin. Ginny's eyes, which had danced maliciously throughout her crazed rant, now darkened, hatred reflecting in them so clearly, it was frightening. "One last thing. If you ever go near Harry again? Touch him, fuck him, kiss him, even talk to him?" Ginny let go of her face and stepped back into the fireplace, Floo Powder ready. "Our little secret? Will be front page news on the Daily Prophet fast than you can say 'I hate you,'" Ginny threw down the powder, the green flames licking at her body. "I'll see you in a few best buddie!" she rolled her eyes again. "Ta, Granger"

And with a flash, she was gone. Hermione let out the shaky breath she hadn't even known she was holding. She rested her head in her heads, letting her emotions mix freely. Anger, humiliation, pain. How had she let things get this bad? She was the smart one, and she saw no way to fix this. And so, Hermione Granger-Weasley, sat down, and cried.

--

**A/N: That was way overdue. And for that I apologize profusely! Excuses (the first a/n) are flimsy and pointless at this stage, but its CHRISTMAS TOMORROW! :) … or actually, today (it's midnight where I am) **

**So, I just wanted to say MERRY CHRISTMAS, HAPPY HANAKUAH, AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS! Also to thank you for the **_**40+ **_**reviews! :o Lets get some more!**

**Thanks to those who have stuck by me, your support for my writing means the world to me. **

**And may I say that I quite dislike Ms. Potter at the moment? :p Also, I'm sorry I didn't include George in this chapter! :( I just ran out of ideas and things to put him in… you guys had waited long enough, but do not worry! :] I have other plans for him and Alicia! **

**~MJ**

***edit: Christmas was four days ago XD **


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